Halo Reach - Untold Prologue
by MDAM-FASEGold
Summary: The story of three friends out of their depth, in a similar but altogether different world from what they were used to. Beth, Matt, and Ross will have to stick together and pull each other through, as this brave new world doesn't take any prisoners. [Rewrite after C43][Anomaly Series [R1]] [FemSix]
1. Arrival

**MDAM – Thought this was originally inspired by another piece on the site **_**this is still an original piece**_**, note that I don't own halo or any characters in the halo universe. (**_Italics_** are thoughts)**

C1 : Arrival

I woke up to the sound of gunfire, the smell of burnt cordite hung in the air. My body was numb. _What happened? Where am I? _I tried to move, it hurt, my joints were stiff, and I noticed that I had a sharp pain in my chest. _Probably broken ribs. _I tried to think back to the last thing I remembered. _I was running, 10kg on my back, doing a 4-mile run, and then I saw a light, was the hell was that? _

After lying on my back for just over 5 minuets trying to comprehend what had happened I attempted to stand up. The pain was antagonising, I could feel the broken ribs dig into my skin. "FUCK!" I exclaimed as I tried to curse the pain away. I looked down at my clothing and I dusted off the almost soot material, I was wearing a white (now grey t-shirt), black soft shell jacket, black cargo trousers, black socks and shoes and a _Wait, were is it!_ Then I caught the black rucksack in the corner of my eye, it rested near the top of a black stone ridge, the world around my was bleak, covered in a black rock and sand, the sky was over cast

"At least its not raining." I muttered to my self, trying not to wince at the sharp pain at my side. I limped over to my bag, combing my messy, long rosewood red hair and reached down to the black trespass bag. I un-zipped the bag pockets and storage poaches and tipped their contents onto the floor. I noticed the cans of food I used as weight were dented, luckily my wallet was there too. Then I checked my pockets and found my Black IPhone 4 with its cheap little £1 shop headphones. I sorted the cans into their respected types and made a mental note. _10 cans of tinned tomatoes, 3 cans of tuna 7 cans of chickpeas 5 cans of kidney beans 3 cans of pea and 2 cans of green beans. What a feast._

I opened my wallet and checked its contents. _£24.01 in cash_. Then I checked the cards, all I had was my DVLA provisional licence, _God, that is one shit picture, _I thought, as I looked a the photo booth picture of myself, the girl in the picture had green eyes, dark red hair, pale skin and thin lips, her head wasn't wide and she had a braid on her left side, it was like looking into a mirror. The card had her name, Bethany Johanna Andrews Milton, her date of birth, the 11th of the July 1997. Along with that she had two coffee cards and her SQA examination card. She packed the contents in her left pocket, she plugged in her headphones and put on some music, _shit, no signal. _She thought. As my music played she packed the rucksack and heaved the 10kg on my back and began my march toward the gunfire, _this could get interesting._

I trudged onto a ridge and looked over what looked like two opposing teams fighting, both groups wore the same uniform with the slight difference being one was wearing armour with bits of red and the other with bits of blue. _Great a training exercise. _She noticed that they were training in a quarry of some sort, the black rock wall had been blasted away and a concrete structure stood in the middle, next to it she saw an aircraft of some sort, _it had to be a VTOL to get in quarry _I noted. I began to crawl back from the quarry side, but to no surprise, my luck failed as some debris came loose and fell into the quarry.

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK." I began saying repeatedly as I got on my feet and began to run, my chest on fire as the dislodged bone fragments jiggled under my skin.

The alarm sounded "All personnel this is not a drill, there is a intruder on base, I repeat this is not a drill." The monotone drone announced. Then my heart skipped a beat "Intruder should be shot on sight." I came to a halt, _well shit. _I thought. _Here's me thinking my day couldn't get worse. Now Beth, think, you perform well under pressure don't you? _I looked at the floor and dug into the black soot and pebbles, until I was covered head too in the dark mineral.

"Who do you think this intruder is?" She heard, male American, sounds like it belongs to someone under the age of 25 "If there is one. For all we know it could be an animal or something."_ Yes just an animal nothing more, now go away._

Then the other talked, it was a female voice, it sounded Eastern European, maybe Hungary or from the Yugoslavia region. "Tom, do you ever shut up, for all you know she could be here waiting for us."

"Catharine do you see anyone, do you hear anyone, do you smell any..." He stopped, his voice a bit louder _shit they are getting closer. _Then it dawned on me why they had stopped _MY BAG. _"I'll check the bag" He said "Kat, keep me covered."

I could feel his footsteps coming closer to me until he was nearly on top of me. _Aw screw it. _I sprung from under the dust standing up and grabbing his rifle and aimed into the air as we began to fight, initially I kneed him in the crotch. And then elbowed him in the face, he squeezed the trigger due to the pain and a rain of bullets fired out of the weapon. Kat who was holding a scoped rifle was trying to aim a shot at me, the only thing running through my mind was _SSSSHHHIIIIITTTEEEE._

He grabbed my wrist and came in for a punch, I twisted my right hand, releasing me and I ducked, only to then ram my head into his chest, but to my surprise it didn't break a rib, so instead I place a punch to the diaphragm in an attempt to wind him. The was wearing little armour, only covering his forearms, shoulders, chest and some of his legs, his chest plate had TOM-B292 stencilled in the top corner. His armour had a no colour apart from black whilst his companion CATHERINE-B320 had blue highlights on her armour._ She must have been on the exercise_. I noticed at his side he had a pistol, I grabbed it as I tackled him, after taking another cheap shot, his resistance loosened and fell to the floor, once there I rolled over and smashed the butt of the gun against his head, causing him to be knocked out. _ Well that went better than expected, now to deal with missy over there,_

I rolled over and pointed my gun at her face, she had black hair, like her comrade and had sharp blue eyes, and to say the least, she seemed surprised. _Who is the soldier now? _I smiled to myself. _Just cause' I have broken bones and stiff joints, doesn't mean I couldn't kick ass. Now where was I?_ "Okay, lets do it like this, I'll ask you six questions and you'll give me six answers. And then you get to do the same."I said giving her once look over, she had an emblem on here chest piece with four letters underneath, UNSC, the last time I checked this wasn't what the United Nations Security Council did for a living. "First off, who are you?"

Her scared face had turned into a frown. "Chief petty officer Catherine B320, United Nations Space Command." She replied.

"Where the hell am I?" I asked.

She was taken slightly aback from this, obviously expecting that a person would know where they are. "I'm afraid that's classified."

I tightened my eyes "Does it look like I care?"

"That's your third question, and the answer is no." she smirked

"Okay, why was I shoot on sight, not capture and interrogated?"

"You where trespassing on Classified UNSC soil. Soil that technically doesn't exist." She noticed she said too much and quickly closed her mouth.

"What is the UNSC?"

Her smirk turned into a face of pure confusion, but it was a question so she answered. "The UNSC is the military, expeditionary and scientific body of the United Earth Government."

_Final question, come on think of a good one. _"What is the date?"

"The 7th of January 2544." _What. The. Actual. Fuck._ My face dropped, tears began to flow down my eyes. _Everyone I know and love is dead. No that's not possible, this is some sort of prank. Maybe a dream? _But at that moment I felt the pain in my ribs. _Nope, not a dream._

"Are you okay, you look like you took a gravity hammer to the face."

Then in a burst of rage "NO, I'M NOT OKAY, I JUST FOUND OUT THAT MY LOVED ONES ARE DEAD AND SIX FOOT UNDER AND THERE IS JACK SHIT THAT I CAN DO ABOUT IT." This took Kat off guard.

"Okay, question two, what is your name?" she said soothing matter, but still holding her gun towards her head.

"Beth-B-Be-ethany Johanna-na Andrews Milt-ton." I stuttered. _Calm down Beth, get a hold of yourself woman._

"Okay Beth, could you tell me your age?" Kat said

"17, biologically." she gulped

"Where do you come from?" she inquired.

"Scotland, to be more specific Dumfries in Dumfries and Galloway."

"And you have never hear of the UNSC or UEG?" she queried.

I just shook my head, still holding the pistol towards her face. "That's your forth question by the way." I looked up and make a sorry attempt of a smile.

Kat looked uncomfortable, to her it probably didn't make any sense. There was a long pause both of them looking at each other. "Where did you learn moves like that? It's not that easy to take down a Spartan like that, you made easy meat off of him." She said breaking the awkward silence.

"I got to red belt in Tea-Kwon-Do when I was a little younger, learnt CQC and few take downs."

"Beth, Final Question, and you better answer truthfully, what's your Date of Birth." Just as she said that she heard a voice come through an earpiece.

"May I?" Kat asked.

I nodded. "That's 7 questions you know."

Kat touched her ear to open a channel.

"Sir I have the intruder at gun point, just as she has me." She paused "No sir, she knocked out Tom and she is now using his pistol, it's trained at my head sir." She looked into my eyes again. "Date of Birth?"

My mouth went dry. "11th of July" I said, only to have her had jester the universal signal of '_And?_' I swallowed a the lump in my throat. "1997."

At that moment Kat spoke into the mic "Did you get that sir." She waited a second for the reply. "Yes sir, I'll bring her in for questioning."

At that moment four more soldiers came over the hill pointer their rifles towards me. _Well Bollocks._


	2. X-rays and Escape

**MDMA – This chapter will be out a bit early as I wont be in the country on Sunday, hope you enjoy.**

C2: X-rays and Escape

Beth sat in the back of the vehicle called a 'Warthog', two of the soldiers where sitting in the front, while Kat, an unconscious Tom, another soldier and herself where riding in the passenger compartment in the back. The drove down the sides of the quarry, Beth was observing the landscape and spotted a sign, it read 'UNSC/ONI Camp Currahee, Onyx.' _Fitting name. _Beth thought to her self before she looked down at her knuckles, they were bleeding, her nails filled with the fine soot like dust, her hands had scars on them.

The engine stopped, and she looked up at Kat for confirmation, Kat nodded. Beth turned to her left and hopped onto the concrete, Kat following along with the other soldier who shared the back and also the soldier riding shotgun. Beth smoothed off her clothing, she grabbed her bag and faced the tall grey concrete monolith that stood before her. With another quick look at Kat and the others she made her way to the front entrance, inside were two more soldiers in the same armour and holding the same rifles she looked at the name plates, _James and Matthew_ she noted. The two soldiers opened the glass doors leading into a small grey lobby. On the floor was the insignia of something called the Office of Naval Intelligence or ONI, _They must be the ones running the place._

They walked through until they came across two elevators, Matthew pressed the button and in a matter of seconds the doors opened and they walked in. _Out of the frying pan and into the fire_ Beth thought to herself. Suddenly she felt her blood rush to her head from the rapid acceleration of the elevator, she was surprised to find she didn't faint. The doors opened into a long well lit corridor, the walls were a sickly turquoise and the smell of disinfectant combed her nose. She looked to her left and saw the letters 'MEDICAL LEVEL'. _Great, being poked and prodded, just what I needed._ They walked down the corridor for about fifty meters and opened a door on their left. It opened to a 20x10 meter room that was five meters high, the room had a one-way mirror observation room that overlooked machinery and a operating table. There were also three members of medical staff getting the equipment ready, whey were wearing surgery clothing. Then the door closed behind her, Beth sighed and was waved over by one of the staff.

She was about 5'10" and had pale white skin and sharp green eyes and what looked like ginger hair under her surgeon's hat. The she spoke. "Please remove you clothing and put on that patient robe." She glanced over to a chair which had the robe folded on the seat.

Beth removed her cloths and did as the doctor ordered, she felt uncomfortable in doing so however, she had a feeling people where looking her over behind the mirror, so she did so as quickly as possible and turned to face the surgeon. "Now what?" Beth queried. The surgeon simply waved her hand over the table.

Beth took a deep breath and lay down, her skin and the metal touched, a shiver went up her spine and goose bumps formed all over her body. The medical staff brought over a scanner and positioned it at her above her feet. Then it activated, a warm wave of light passed over her body, noting everything happening in her body. Beth looked over to her left and saw the medical staff prepare a needle, _Why needles, hasn't learning my loved ones are dead enough torture, _Beth thought. She felt a slight nick as the metal spike entered her lower arm. The medical staff then proceeded to remove her robe down to her abdominals and started to use a strange gel, initially cold when it hit my bruising but slowly heated up, and most importantly began to numb the pain. I looked back over to my left and saw the tube that had once been filed with my blood had now been filled with a clear blue liquid. Her body went numb as the medicine took over her body. _Damn, sedatives._

* * *

Beth awoke to a grey ceiling looking down upon her she looked to her left and saw more bleak colour, this time it was a grey black chair and a grey and black chair. There was no window, but a metal lamp on her desk produced the light. She tried to sit up on her bed, the pain in her chest decided to put her back in her place. _What I would give for those painkillers again. _She looked at herself, she was wearing a black cargo fatigue shirt with a white UNSC stuck symbol on her left-breast, she was wearing black combat boots and black cotton cargo trousers. She looked under her shirt where the pain had emanated, she had a white bandage wrapped around her breasts and padding on her left side. She rubbed her hand over the padding, but as soon as she touched it she removed it with pain. _Fuuuuck, this is worse than I remember._

After waiting a few minuets, _it felt like a few hours,_ Beth had plucked up the courage to try sitting up. The pain was still there but Beth didn't yield and she swung her legs around and attempted to stand up. She nearly fell flat on her face. Her legs were so wobbly, they felt like jelly and they were shaking but she managed to struggle over to her desk. On her desk was a note, held by a by a small pot of pills. _Take one every 3 hours and you'll be back in action within a week_. Signed _Doctor Neustade._ Beth grabbed the pot and pulled out a pill, she looked around and for her bathroom. She picked up a glass and filled it with water, popped the pill into her mouth and gulped down her drink.

She left her en suite and made herself to the door. She pulled at the handle, but it was locked. Outside she heard the chuckles of what she guessed were two soldiers. One of them spoke in a cockney accent "Sorry love, but you aint goin anywhere until the Boss Man arrives." Beth was, to put it bluntly, pissed. She had been imprisoned with out as much of a reason than you where trespassing on the land of some military organisation she had never heard of. But how long would it be until this 'Boss Man' would show up, was unknown, she had to do something.

She ran her hands through her hair then she felt the metal that was a hairpin. _Nice._ She thought as she removed it from her hair, searching for another she couldn't find another. _They should have thought that I might try something like this. _She looked around the room, looking for other tools that could aid her in her escape. She took a razor in the toilet and removed the blade. She grabbed some flossing sting and a toothbrush and took it to her desk. Beth began to use the razor blade to remove the brush fibres from the plastic, after wards he used the razor to carve a small slit in the head of the brush to grip the floss. She began to thread the floss through the holes in the body of the razor and began to use it to grip the razor to the body of the brush. Once she was done, she had something similar to a knife.

She went into the bathroom and grabbed the light bulb and stuck it into her pocket. She took her hairpin and snapped it in two, bending one slightly she then turned to the door. Sticking the flat pin into the lock sideways she stuck the bent one and began to pick at the key lock. I took her a couple of seconds but she heard the first tick noise. She stopped to listen to what was happening out side, the two soldiers were talking. _Nice. _Beth thought before getting back to work. Seven ticks later she had unlocked the door. Slowly sliding it to the unlocked position she grabbed her makeshift blade and took the light bulb out of her pocket.

_Three, two, one, MARK. _She thought, she pulled the handle down and pulled the door open quickly and with some speed rammed the light bulb into the open visor of the soldier and ramming her elbow into the face of the other, knocking him out cold. The first soldier, who luckily had his eyes closed, had a bulb impact his face. He was about to scream but Beth quickly covered his mouth and made it into a mere muffle. She then took her makeshift blade to the soldier's throat.

"Don't move a Fucking muscle, asshole, otherwise you will end up worse than your mate there." She whispered. In response all he did was nod. "Good, err, Steve, yeah I'll call you Steve." She dropped the prison shank and grabbed his combat knife. _This is so much better then that piece of shite._ She thought to herself. _Now to get out of here._ She walked him over to a door with a key code on it. She picked up his arm and whispered, "Type your access code." First he hesitated, but only to feel the knife press harder against his throat, Steve quickly regretted his disloyalty and punched in his four-digit code. "Thanks, love." She said sarcastically before smashing the pommel into his fore head, rendering him unconscious.

She pulled his body into her room along with his comrade, and took off their armour and put it on herself. She attached to pistols to her sides picked up the SMG and Marksman Rifle. She took the ammunition and grenades she had on them. She turned to leave the room, but decided to add insult to injury and put the soldiers in each other's arms in her bed with the cover over. She grabbed her phone and took a picture. And off she went, keeping an eye on her surroundings. Keeping her eyes on her goal, freedom.

She came up to the elevators. Two soldiers were guarding the way. _Great now I need and alias._ She looked at her upper arm and saw she was a Sargent. _Sargent… Kelly… Andrews. Yeah, Sgt Kelly Andrews of the UNSC Marine Corps. _"Corporals" she said. The two of them were similarly clad in their armour.

"Sargent." they replied giving a salute. "Going up." They said mockingly.

She returned the salute in a mocking manner. _Wow, first time I'm returning the salute, I could get used to this. I'm usually the Cadet saluting some officer._ "Aye, up." She replied.

She stood in the metal box, and as the doors began to close she waved at the two men. They turned towards each other, they seemed to notice her guise. _All these damn weapons_ she thought. Their expression was shock, she managed to slip past them, and she was already escaping. Luckily for her, the doors closed before they could get to her. _Close call. Never drop your disguise that soon._ She pressed the button for the ground floor. _Geeze, 50 floors under ground, which explains the lack _of_ windows. _Around Basement level 5 the elevator stopped and the alarm was sounded. She heard a voice come out of the elevator controls. "Miss Milton, please stop what you are doing, there is no where you can run, we will find you."

She smirked._ Looks like I'm climbing out. _Beth found the emergency service hatch and popped it open with her rifle. A small ladder slid down and she climbed out of the elevator. She looked around, trying to find another ladder of some sort. _Nothing._ She sighed. _Looks like I'm doing it the hard way. _She grabbed the main elevator cable and began to rope climb up. _Thank God they put gloves in combat uniform, otherwise my hands would be a mere oily pulp._

She kept climbing and around B1 her wounds began to sting. _Fuck this wound. Fuck this climb. Fuck this base and its personnel. Fuck the UNSC. Fuck my luck. _She kept thinking those thought until she got to the ground floor. There was a bit of a ledge where she could grab. And in a big leap of faith Beth threw herself over. She grabbed the ledge and hung there. _If it only takes an insult for my luck to kick in, maybe I should do it more often. _Beth attempted to climb up, her hands covered in oil and made it a tedious process. But in time she made it. She had mere centimetres of footing between her ending in the black abyss below and staying alive.

Beth clawed her hands into the gaps of the elevator door and began to heave it open. She could feel the stitches under her padding begin to strain. But in a matter of moments she made a gap big enough for her to get through, as soon as she entered the lobby she trained her rifle into her surroundings. _Reminds me of my paintball sessions. But this time the paint is metal, and traveling around 340 meters a second. _Beth looked around and saw two soldiers patrolling, she took out a grenade, labelled that she guessed what a flash-bang, she checked for a label saying magnesium or something like that. _Just what the doctor ordered. _She thought, pulling the pin and rolling it to the soldier's feet. Beth closed her eyes and saw the flash behind her eyelids. She let out a sigh and knocked out the one of the staggering soldiers with the butt of the rifle._ Nice._

She looked outside and saw groups of soldiers patrolling the area, and most importantly she saw the VTOL. She grabbed the other soldier by the neck, put her rifle on her back and pulled out one of her pistols. She turned to her captive. "Now listen, I don't want to hurt anyone, but if you try anything sneaky I shall not hesitate to put you six feet underground, understood." She said gripping his neck tightly. "UNDERSTOOD." She said again. This time he nodded frequently. "Good, now calm down. Your mate aint dead, just out cold." Her voice had changed into a smoother tone.

She held him by the scruff of his neck and they walked out of the lobby together, the other groups didn't seem to notice. _Thank god for that. _She thought, she opened it up and chucked the soldier inside, and quickly shut the hatch again. He looked at her strange, his face was covered in fear. She walked past him, jamming her rifle into the head of the soldier. She picked him up and buckled him in. She tied his hands and feet together and made sure he couldn't escape. She got into the cockpit, and looked over the controls. "Looks easy enough." She said to herself sarcastically. "It's like riding a bike, that flies with VTOL capabilities, and is 10 times more complex then a MRK 1 Tutor plane I use with the Cadets."

She sat down, buckled in and started to go over pre flight procedures. Though it was a rough check because this craft was relatively alien to what she was used to the basics were the same. She attempted to fire up the engine but it wouldn't budge. _Cunt! _She thought to herself. Then suddenly over the radio came a very stern voice, "Well done, Miss Milton, I am to say the least surprised you made it this far, but I am afraid the time for fun is over and I require you to come back to the building, the Pelican is surrounded and it won't fly." He said. "Oh and welcome to the Spartan-III Programme, Beth B-312."


	3. Review

**MDAM- Hey guys hope you enjoy the new chapter, please don't be afraid to send me any reviews to point out mistakes or to send me possible story directions. MDAM out**

C3: Review and Initiation

_**1730 hours, 10 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Lieutenant Commander Ambrose's Office.**_

"I take it you read my file." Beth asked.

"I must say, Miss Milton, that someone outside of the military has such a combat ready profile." Coronal Kurt Ambrose said. "You were in the 1153 Squadron ATC, where you received the rank of Sargent, you have one of the best marksman scores of all of the Cadets, including army, navy and marine cadet forces. You learnt to fly solo, you have training in radio communications and you have received the level of master cadet as well as attended a master of instruction course." He looked up from the paper.

"Sir, remember she took out one of your Spartans." Chief petty officer Mendez added.

"Yes, that surprised us, they are supposed to be trained killers and an non-augmented teenager took one out. I have to admit that is impressive. That along with the fitness report we got from Doctor Neustade shows us that you are physically superior to the average human, with a bleep test score around twelve, the ability to lift an above average weight in dumbbell, squat and weightlifting tests, you would make a perfect candidate for this program, which begs me to question, why did you accept my offer?" The Coronal asked

"Sir, in truth do I really have an option. I am either going to be shot or locked in some dark hole if I didn't choose this, and to be honest its like choosing between expensive red wine and piss water, to put it bluntly." She replied.

The two looked at each other and nodded. "Thank you for your time Miss Milton, that will be all." He held out his hands, inside were two rank tapes, Petty Officer second class, the equivalent to sergeant in the UNSC marines and army.

She took them and saluted. "Thank you sir."

"The lance corporal shall escort you to the mess hall." He said returning the salute. The two walked out and the doors closed. Kurt's' smile turned to a neutral expression. He turned towards the NCO. "Chief I can't believe ONI has authorised this. I mean you cant expect me of all people to allow her to go through the procedures, I been through them and I almost wanted to kill Halsey and yourself for putting me through it."

"I know sir, but orders are orders, she is more likely to survive the procedures then you, John or any of the other Spartan-II's, her genetic immaturity compared to the rest of humanity makes it more likely that her body would accept the augmentations. She is so unique that Halsey wanted to run tests on her to predict human evolution or something like that, and that could have been much worse. But at least it would be safer this time with advancements in technology."

"But so soon after getting drafted, she has only been here for just over two days and she is going to be augmented within a week. This level of crazy makes me think someone in ONI is becoming desperate."

"It's times like this that this that I hate agreeing with you."

* * *

The two of them walked down the corridor towards the mess hall, Beth was to the left of the lance corporal. He finally spoke up. "So, ma'am, I take it that you are the new Spartan we all heard of."

"That would be me." Beth said fastening her final tape to her epaulets.

"Aren't you a bit, you know." He glanced up and down her body. "Old to become a Spartan."

"I am afraid that that information is classified."

"Okay." He paused, thinking of a new question. "What is your name?"

"Beth." She replied.

"Let me guess the rest is classified." He said. Beth simply turned her head and nodded as they entered the mess hall. In front of them was a large room filled with three hundred Spartans eating dinner. The two turned to face each other. He saluted. "Enjoy your gruel ma'am."

"I cant wait." She replied giving a salute back before turning about and heading towards the aluminium serving area. She was given a black looking meat stew; _I bet that there isn't a single bit of meat in this_, and some white mashed potato. She turned to face the hall and looked for an empty space, to her luck she found an empty table and began to tuck into her "food". She noticed a couple of eyes darting her way, _guess that's to be expected being the new guy._ She though the food wasn't at a Michelin Star level she was famished and with the aid of some water had nearly finished her food.

She heard some chairs being pulled around the table and she looked up to see seven figures had sat down. She glanced at their shirts and noticed that Kat, and a slightly damaged Tom had sat down, along with a Lucy, a James, a Min, an Adam and a Matthew. They all looked around eighteen or twenty but when Beth looked at their files she saw that they were no older then ten or eleven. "May I help you?" Beth asked.

Lucy was the first to speak up. "Hi, we noticed you were new here so we wanted to ask how you were settling in."

Taken aback by Lucy's sudden forwardness Beth hesitated. "Fine, I guess." She said indecisively.

"Sorry a bout Lucy, she is a little, keen." Adam said. "So what's your name?" Beth replied be pointing to her left breast pocket where it was white on black.

"You can read I hope." Beth jested. Adam went a bit red. "And if you cant Adam, its Beth, pleasure to meet you all."

Matthew piped up. "No, the pleasure is ours, this is the first time we have seen a new recruit in ages, I hope you don't find the boots you are filling, to be, too big." He said with a slight Scottish accent.

"So we have bee discussion for the passed two days on how you, a non-augmented girl, kicked Tom's ass and could have taken Kat's life."

"Well that's easy, you don't go check a random bag without checking your surroundings."

"But I did." Tom complained.

"Sorry, all of your surroundings." She corrected, the table now in laughter as Tom slumped back into his seat with his arms crossed. "Also I think Kat did the right thing and not shoot me as Tom could have been hit and died. Though she probably wasn't expecting me to be proficient with a firearm."

All the eyes diverted towards Kat. "What, she looked like she came right out of a gym!"

"You thought a person that somehow managed to make it onto Onyx couldn't use a fire arm, any innie that would have half a brain cell would come packing at least be able to use a gun." Tom said, shifting the conversation away from him.

"Speaking about guns," Lucy asked, "what is your preference?"

Beth realised she had no idea a bout these future weapons, _Balls, I guess I should stick to the truth._ "I like antiques, the 5.56mm L98 Cadet Rifle. It has mechanisms within the butt and body, making it compact. It's cousin the SA80 A2 was used in Afghanistan in the war in the beginning of the twenty-first centaury. These weapons can get under slung 40mm grenade launchers or shotguns along with the ability to attach holographic sights." Not to Beth's' surprise this took the Spartans by surprise, someone who preferred to use a gun over five hundred years older then their new space guns.

"You like that dinosaur?" James said.

Beth turned her head towards the Spartan. "Yes I do, it is a reliable weapon that has been used in many years of war, from the troubles in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other non-UK engagements. It was used from the mid 1980's towards the end of the 2020's, I believe they were reliable." She then gave a quick smirk putting him in his place. Beth felt surprisingly calm, she was never really used to be the talk of town but right now she was enjoying it.

She finished up her meal, handed in her dishes and made her way to her room. It was only six but she was exhausted, the pain medication she had been given was to last her another four days. Yes it was effective at numbing the pain, the increased fatigue meant she could barely make it past eight. She grabbed a glass of water, sat down at her desk and pulled out her phone, a pen and a notepad. She began to write down a note of what was going on, only to then go and write whatever, scribbling something about some runners, a race. By the time it was seven she had already forgotten about what she had written and waddled to bed, curled up and slept.

* * *

_**0600 hours, 11 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Floor B5, Room 98**_

Beth's alarm went off and she jumped out of her bed, she took a quick two-minuet shower and got changed into her UNSC fatigues, she slid her tapes into the correct position on her shoulder. She walked back into the bathroom and sorted out her hair, she tied it up into a bun. She looked into the mirror, gave herself another onceover, took a painkiller and made her way down to the mess hall.

"Morning, Beth." A familiar Eastern European voice said. As she joined Beth on their way down the corridor.

"Kat." She replied, giving a simple nod of recognition.

"I'll take it you would want to join us on todays exercise."

"Don't you think I would be a burden, considering I am not soldier or combat expert?"

"What do you think the point of a training exercise is Beth, if not to train." She replied shooting down her argument. "Plus Lucy has taken a liking to you, we aren't the most talkative bunch you know and well, Lucy is well, Lucy." She said raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah but what about Tom, isn't he bound to have a grudge." Beth asked. "I did kind of bust his balls, both literally and figuratively."

"He is the forgiving type, and very few of us are." Kat said. The conversation ended there.

* * *

_**0800 hours, 11 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Pelican over Spartan training area.**_

Beth was suited in something called an ODST BDU, the armour that covered all of her body. It was coloured tungsten black like the gun in her hands. It was a M390 Designated Marksman Rifle but the Spartans called it a DMR, it was a single shot bullpup air-cooled rifle that fired 7.62×51mm rounds. It had a magazine that contained fifteen rounds of smokeless ammunition. Her rifle had been fitted with interchangeable thermal optics and regual zoom scope. She was sat in the cargo hold of the Pelican she tried to hijack, on the port side sat her team, Foxtrot team, which contained Tom, Adam, Min, Lucy, Kat and Beth. On the starboard side sat Echo team, which contained James, Matthew, Ellen, Peter, Cameron and David.

Beth shifted uncomfortably in her seat, she noticed she was the only one not wearing something called SPI armour, a stronger more advanced armour compared to what she had. So along with being less trained for combat and the fact she was wearing inferior armour in comparison, she was going to have to rely on her gut, what knowledge she had and her only true advantage, her luck. Beth couldn't put her finger on it but she would always have a way to get away with risks, whenever she had to flip a coin, nine times out of ten she would get it right, now she was hoping that the risks she would take today in the exercise would pay off.

"You okay Beth." Kat asked over TEAMCOM.

"Yeah, just a bit nervous, how long till we are dropped off?"

"One minuet. Don't worry. We'll win. We always do." Kat chuckled.

"Yeah, but they have the advantage."

"So what, they'll underestimate, and trust me I have seen you fight, you will do fine, plus you can see things in a different light, having a different perspective will aid us." She said.

"I hope you are right." Beth murmured as she gave her equipment a quick once over before the exercise start. She quickly checked he sidearm, a M6G personal defence pistol, everything seemed fine. She counted her grenades, three smoke, three fragmentation and three concussive. Before she new it, her HUD flashed green.

Kat spoke up on TEAMCOM. "Alright, it's Showtime!" they all stood up and jumped out the pelican.


	4. Exercise

**MDAM- Well I managed to squeeze in enough time to get this chapter in (I hope this doesn't screw up my prelims) , this is due to a busy weekend (the time I generally write) full of road marching with the ATC, I probably unable to complete this for Sunday, though next weeks Korra story as I am away at a wedding, it also doesn't help that exams are coming. All I ask for is that you guys don't rip your dicks off. MDAM out.**

C4: Exercise

_**0805 hours, 11 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Spartan training area (GR 340,214), Beach**_

Airman Jones spoke in a welsh accent. "Foxtrot ream you are go." And as she said that all six of them jumped out of the aircraft onto the Marram on a snow-white beach. It made a slight crunch as the weight of six soldiers crouched as they landed, instantly readying their weapons in a circular pattern. _We have no idea what Ambrose may have in store for us._ Kat thought as she pulled out a map.

"Okay, this is the plan." Kat started. "Echo team are landing on the far side of the map her." She pointed to a hill in the northeast of the map. She ran down her finger to a gorge to the southwest. "We set up a sniper position with Beth and Adam. Tom and Lucy, you two patrol the local area, if you spot the opposition we would like you to draw them into the gorge. Min and myself shall go around the area looking for the team again looking to draw them into the ambush. Clear."

"Clear." They all said. All but Beth.

"Petty Officer. Do you under stand the plan?"

"I do. Ma'am. However there is something else that I have in mind."

"Lets hear it."

"Laugh this off if it is crap, but why not use my use my lack of SPI armour to our advantage? Here is the plan." She started.

_**0815 hours, 11 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Spartan training area (GR 340,214), Forest, due west of Echo starting location**_

Matthew spoke up over TEAMCOM. "So how do you think they will do?"

"Who knows Matt." Replied James "They sure have the disadvantage as their combined experience is lower, but since she is not the same as us, she thinks different. Having a different perspective on the battlefield could be an asset to them. So to put it short Matt, I don't have a c…" James stopped as a loud explosion and a series of smaller explosions broke his train of thought. _What the hell was that? _James thought.

"And here was me thinking you wouldn't shut up." Jested Cameron.

"Could that have been the Pelican?" Peter suggested.

"I sure as hell hope not." James said as white smoke began to rise from the 'crash site'. "Lets move out, we head to the site of the 'crash' and see if there is anything wrong. Copy?" he asked, they all replied with a flash of green. "Go radio silent." And then the made for the smoke.

They trekked through the podzol forest for forty minuets, the ground was covered in a fine layer of orange needles, though it was January, here on Onyx it was just the start of autumn, back a Currahee you could already see your breath as you exhaled. The tall pine trees provided cover as the six Spartans slowly advance to the site of incident. The sky was overcast but the air was surprisingly still, this allowed Echo to hear out for anything. Suddenly they heard the loud screech of "HELP, Spartans, I Need Help." Strange ODST BDU clad woman shouted. _Is that Beth? No that would be stupid, who in their right minds would come straight in front of a group of Spartans unless they were desperate._

"Come close, slowly with you hands in the air." James ordered

"Ye-es ss-ir." The woman gulped. And then shouted "Yes sir." She had an American accent. _I guess that rules out Beth._ James thought as he noticed a limp and a splint was form around her leg, it was obviously broken. She was using a sniper rifle as a crude crutch and had a magnum on her magnetic holster. She stopped three meters before them and made a bad attempt at a salute. Her armour was covered in dirt_. _"Private Doe, Sir. We have problem sir. Our pelican…" She swallowed. "Our pelican suffered an engine problem, we need what ever medical supplies you have we have ODST's who are in need of a major dosage of bio-foam and…" She stopped again. "We have two dead, one other is aiding the best he could on four others and one other plus myself are looking for help, as you know, we are hours by pelican from Currahee."

James put his arm on the ODST's shoulder, and looked straight into her visor. "Good job Private, show us the way." He asked, she responded with a number of quick nods. She turned about and made her way to the crash site.

It took five minuets before Matt spoke up. "Private may I ask a question?"

"Go ahead sir." She responded.

"What are a group of ODST's doing out here anyway? We were the only ones on that Pelican."

"This was the Cornels idea sir. Send in a bunch of ODST's to spice things up a bit, especially for the new Spartan." She responded. James Chuckled to himself for a second. _That's a little mean of the Coronal. Picking on the new kid of the block._

"Fair enough." Matt replied as he ducked under a branch.

_**0905 hours, 11 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Spartan training area (GR 340,214), Forest, due west of Echo starting location**_

Kat lay down between Tom and Lucy; they were around one meter away from each other, as all the team lay with their rifles ready to pounce on echo. "Lets hope Beth's plan goes off without a hitch." Kat muttered under her breath.

Lucy replied, obviously hearing her with her enhance senses. "It's the best plan Kat, we all know that she isn't the most stealthy, so it is best that she isn't the ambush."

Kat sighed, and agreed with a nod. Her attention was suddenly changed from the conversation to the snap of a twig, a cough, three beeps and a flop as someone hit the deck. At that moment all of the Spartans stood up and shot. Taking out Echo team in the process.

_**0904 hours, 11 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Spartan training area (GR 340,214), Forest, due west of Echo starting location**_

Beth walked in front of Echo team. She used Min's sniper rifle as a crutch. _I can't believe that worked! _She thought. _They didn't even check my empty rank slides, what a fuck up. And to add insult to injury, that was one of the worst accents that I have ever attempted!_ She literally had no idea how her stunt pulled off. The entire pelican crash was a ploy. She located the opposition and sent a blip to Foxtrot, indicating that phase two should begin. That was the series of explosions to imitate the crashing of a pelican and the deploying of their smoke grenades to further the effect. Phase three, this is where Beth had to act, she had to pretend to be an ODST that came in to add an extra dimension to this exercise. Now she had convinced them she walked them into a trap. And that trap was ten meters in front of her.

She stood had on a branch, snapping it. She then stopped and began to fake cough. On her HUD were the IFF tags for her team. There were two short blips on Toms ID then one long one, then she 'fainted'. All of Echo's team ran forward to help her. This was cut short as a loud clatter of DMR stun rounds shut paralysed the unsuspecting soldiers. Then she spoke up. "Holy cow. That actually worked."

"Well done Beth, you did good. Especially that you have been stalking them, and on your fist exercise." Kat complimented.

"I'm such a natural, aren't I?" Beth laughed.

"True." Lucy said, obviously chuckling herself.

The Spartans on ground were moaning. Cameron laughed painfully. "Beth, you are one sneaky bitch." The rest of Echo laughed, before going into a small coughing fit. Foxtrot themselves were giggling. Beth turned and saw Tom flick on the SATCOM broadcaster to indicate exercise completion.


	5. Poking and Prodding

** MDAM- Huzzah, I am free of clogged weekends (for now) now I can get back to serving you guys a plate of original (and mediocre) literature. No more I have completed my prelims and with a newly updated Spotify playlist I shall activate beast mode and get these stories down on paper. Just for future planning (and to reduce the levels of dick ripping) I will have a period of slowed uploads from around the second and third week of April to the 21****st**** of May. This is due to my higher exams and I do kind of want to do well. Enough about me, to the chapter… MDAM out.**

C5: Poking and Prodding

_**0800 hours, 14 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Medical centre**_

Beth had no idea what she was doing down in the turquoise green room. _Probably another medical check up, I have travelled to another planet after all and who knows what parasites want to flood my system. _She shook her head and entered large medical amphitheatre, the back of the room was black and in the centre was a large white stage. On that stage was a number of medical personnel, a large aluminium operating table with black restraining straps, a number of strange machines and IV's.

She walked down the stairs on the left side of the amphitheatre past five rows of folded up seats, the air was filled with the hospital smell, the one that slapped you in the face like a fish the moment you open the door. One of the medical staff walked over, a checklist in her hand, Beth recognised the red hair. "Doctor Neustade."

"B-312. How are you?"

"A bit confused with the whole spiel, but fine anyhow. What's going on Doc?"

She handed out a checklist; on it read _Non-disclosure agreement _and _Enhancement agreement. "_You will have to sign this in order to go ahead with these procedures."

"Procedures?"

The doctor was taken aback. "They didn't tell you did they."

"I'm would guess that would be the case, what do they include?"

"What don't they include." They began to walk towards the operating table. "Lets start with the Carbide Ceramic Ossification. The grafting of ceramics to three per cent of you skeletal structure, makes near unbreakable bones, possible side effects include bone pulverisation. Further boosted by the application of the drug 8942-LQ99."

"That's a good start, what else is in your bucket of fun."

She continued as Beth sat down on the table. "Muscular enhancement injections; increases muscle density and reduces lactase recovery time. Side effects include a five per cent fatality due to cardiac mass expansion." Beth began to take he cloths off. "Catalytic Thyroid Implant; increases bone and muscle growth. Side effects include reduced sex drive and a possibility of elephantiasis." Beth put on her paper gown. Neustade continued. "88947-OP24 drug, more powerful than the Optical Capillary Reversal, and this one has no side effects. Boosts perception and allows for low light vision booster."

"A real diamond in the rough there." Beth replied.

"Finally the Superconducting Fabrication of Neural Dendrites. Increases reflex boost increase of three hundred per cent along with boosted memory, creativity and intelligence. Further boosted by the drug 87556-UD61."

"Sounds like fun." Beth sighed, laying herself on her back. She grabbed the clipboard and signed it with a quick scribble and handed it to Neustade. Two nurses walked over and proceeded to strap her in. They pulled out an IV and plugged it into her arm, she felt the cool metal enter her arm, there was pain at first, then it went numb, then her arm, followed by her body. Suddenly she was asleep.

_**1350 hours, 20 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Beth's quarters**_

__Beth threw up the fifth time that day, as soon as she tried to consume anything it would appear in front her again in under half an hour on the floor. "Fuck my li…" she spewed. Kat, Tom and Lucy were all standing at the doorframe; all three had a massive grin on their face. "What are you three looking a…" another gut wrenching sound was produced.

"Even I wasn't that bad." Lucy spoke. Clasping her hands over her mouth trying to hide her toothy smile.

"It's not like you had the combined experience of all the S-II and S-III augmentations shoved in you in a two days. You had a chance to ad…" she threw up again. Rolling over to her side, immediately regretting her action, her body was still covered in scars, stiches and needle holes that hadn't had all the required time to heal. Every move she made sent pain all over her body. After the she awoke yesterday the pain was so unbearable that she refused to do as much as lift a finger for seven hours.

Her body had felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer and preceded to do a number on her until every bone in her body were a multitude of fine glass needles that pierced her muscles. And her muscles, they were felt as if every needle in existence had entered her injecting a cocktail of venom and petrol, then setting It on fire. Her nerves were screaming out in agony begging her to die, it would be less torture for her body to endure.

Tom went and picked her up, slid though the doors and proceeded to lay her on the bed. "You are fucking mental. Taking that all on at once, it could have killed you."

She coughed. "Tom, its not, like, I had much choice did I. I needed to catch up and some brass thought it was a good idea to fill me up with so many chemicals my liver would wither and turn as black as coal."

Kat spoke up. "Someone's the poet."

"Fuck off, Kat." She wined. Kat just made a sarcastic sigh, which tested Beth a little.

They did what she asked, but left a small box at the foot of her bed. On it was a tag that read; _Welcome to the family sis._

_**1355 hours, 20 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Corridors**_

"I don't like this one bit." Tom said. "We didn't even know she existed till a week ago and she has already gone through procedures that would have had me shit my self." He put his foot against the wall and folded his arms. He looked at the ceiling knocking his head against the wall softly.

"I hate agreeing with you. But something is off, no one just gets drafted in under a week and becomes a Spartan." Lucy stated. "Even though she has a very clever mind for strategy and has easily grasped UNSC equipment, she looks like a civvie just had a rifle stuck in her hand and told to shoot and kill or be classed as a deserter. That's World War One class cold hearted military discipline."

Kat had her turn at speaking. "Thing is, she doesn't much lee way, she is stuck in a corner by the UNSC, who is themselves stuck in a corner by the Covenant, both Beth and the UNSC want a way to get out alive. She has something they want and she has to give it to them or her life is forfeit, no need for loose ends. And when you are in the situation she is in, who knows what can happen."

"Thing is, it been a while since we have had anyone new to the family." Lucy began. "Now we don't know whether she is going today, tomorrow or ever. And ever since you had your new assignment it seems like you will be gone too." She sighed heavily. "It's a fucking piss take." She slid down on to the floor and curled into a ball.

"Don't worry Luce. You know I can keep care of myself." Kat patted her on her back. "Don't worry. I am not going until the 28th."

She looked up and smiled.

_**0432 hours, 24 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Gym**_

Beth had got up two hours early that day; she decided that she would have to get back on her fitness schedule after being out for over ten days. She found it surprising that she hadn't lost and muscle mass during her 'rest' period. She had her back fatigues trousers on with a white shirt with the UNSC emblem on it. She wore here black trainers from when she first came to Onyx. The gym was surprisingly full for this time of day; there were a couple of Spartans and some soldiers. She nodded and Matt and James.

She walked over to the bench press; she pulled over the bench and placed it under the weights, put on two twenty-fives. She pushed up. _This feels a little light. _She went up and check. _Definitely fifty._ She put on another two twenty-fives. She sat down and tried again, same result. By now there were a multitude of soldiers and Spartans beginning to form, the super-soldiers had a slight grin on their faces. _They have been through this haven't they? _She proceeded to put on a fifty.

Bracing herself again, she pushed. _Piss easy._ She lifted her self back up and put on all the weights she could fit. _Three hundred and fifty kilograms. _She lay down and pushed. _Finally some decent resistance._ By now a Matt and James had made their way over. "I see you are trying to get used to the post augmentation beast mode." Matt said.

Beth simply glared as she got back up and took some heavier weights of the free weights and added them to the frame. "Lads, could you do me a favour and fuck off, I trying to get fit again." She continued the glare whilst doing her reps, and proceeded to do so until the two were on the other side of the room. She sighed and finished her fist set. She continued to bench press for fifteen more minuets; she got up and decided to go outside for a run.

Stretching herself off, she looked up and saw James and Lucy on the track. She made her way over and began to run, she sped up, and a little more, and more on top of that. She was making a gain on her two mates. Coming in to the right of Tom with Lucy to his, she spoke up. "Good morning."

"Morning" They said in unison, Lucy then continued. "Looking alive."

"Shouldn't I?"

"Touché."

"How are you guys holding up?"

"Fine, we plan to call it in five, hit the showers and get to the mess for about ten past."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Knock yourself out."


	6. Good Beatings and Good Byes

** MDAM- Hello it is me again, hope you enjoy the newest chapter in untold prologue, I am also pleased to inform you that I am currently spending all my free time (unless I playing CIV and Halo) on Darkness Before Dawn, I intend to get the chapter up within a fortnight, no promises though, anyway, enjoy the new chapter.**

C6: Good Beatings and Good Byes

_**0530 hours, 27 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Gym**_

Beth had found herself in the Gym for the fourth time that week, and to put it bluntly she was amazed with her new body. She had regained a large amount of muscle mass again and then some on top of that, she had been told that the rest of them had found it strange too when it happened to them, but Beth was supposed to get used to this over time.

She finished an hour long run when she re-entered the main gym, in the centre some of the Spartans and soldiers had moved a number of mats into the centre of the room. There was a crowed around the cobalt blue crash mats, Beth grabbed a water bottle and drank slowly before walking up to see the commotion. Due to her stature she was able to peer above the crowd and was able to get a good look. What she saw was slightly surprising.

A hooking kick swung around the head of the unfortunately solider Beth instantly recognised as Tom. _Getting his ass kicked again I see._ Beth thought with a small slime creeping up her face. He was fighting a figure who was moving so quickly and with such grace you could barley keep track of her. Suddenly Tom lashed out at the petite person, trying to get a hit, the figure simply ducked, and uppercut the man in the chest. A punch that would have broken ribs hadn't it been for the augmentations. Tom was now wheezing. The wind was blow out of him. "Well played Kat" He guttered as he slowly made to his feet, still not fully recovered from the sudden blow to the diaphragm.

Then she spoke up. "Anyone else?" she asked the crowd, most of the soldiers, even the ODST's looked away, she obviously she had done a major beat down on someone else that day. Then her eyes met Beth's. "312, do want to try?" Her she asked in her Slavic accent. _Just turn about, Beth, no need to strain your body to hard, you just got out of bed a wee…_ Kat interrupted her train of thought. "I will take that as a yes then." And with out another word Matt and James pushed me into the centre of the ring, they quickly grabbed my bottle and bag. _Cunt._ She thought as Kat go into a L-stance.

"Aw fuck me." Beth thought aloud as she readied herself in an attention position. "Kat, in the ways of the martial art of Tea-Kwon-Do, you bow before commencing combat."

"Very well." She straightened up and they moved within four foot of each other. Both in an attention with their arms slightly out they bent to a forty-five degree incline. _Now to play dirty. _Beth thought as she grabbed Kat's head and brought it to her knee, her face made contact with her bone. The crowd had made a little _oooooh_ noise as they all winced at the foul play. Beth took as step back into walking stance as Kat pushed her self from the floor.

"You play dirty then, well so shall I." She said with a predatory smile, which was made even more eerie with the small trickle of blood from her brow. She wiped the wound and in a matter so seconds she had her fist implanted into the chest of Beth, who hadn't realized until it was to late. Beth had moved to the back of the ring were she nearly lost her balance, she dived to the left and set herself into a L-stance with both hands in a ready position guarding her head.

Kat did the dame and they both began to circle the ring, every so often they would inch forward until they were at the four-foot mark again. Kat lashed out, with Beth quickly move in the right, and side kicked her into the lower torso between the ribs and the pelvis at Kats left side. Kat jumped towards Beth with her fist ready to implant itself onto Beth's nose. However Beth noticed this and like an insect, quickly sidestepped narrowly missing the attack. Beth herself went in for an attack, her fist making its way to Kat's chest, however Kat managed to stop it with a grab to the wrist. Beth came in with a knife hand strike to the Kat's head, who resisted it with a rising block, but this was a distraction as Beth twisted her initially trapped hand ninety degrees, releasing it from Kat's grasp, Beth then proceeded to reel her hand back slightly and then quickly accelerated her hand into the Spartans chest.

Kat staggered back, but in the process exchanged her feet for some air and planted the lace area of her foot into the jaw of Beth. Beth quickly orientated herself, and quickly grabbed the falling foot and with the left hand the knee and twisted it in a manner that would flip Kat on her horizontal axis. It worked and Kat spun three hundred and sixty degrees before landing on her back. Beth came in with a punch but Kat had herself quickly reoriented and brought her knees to her chest, and just as quickly as she got them in she straightened them out. Her feet planted nicely between Beth's lower body, she could see the pain cross her face.

Beth stumbled back, but kept on her feet, even though she was winded, Kat stood up and came in to finish her off, swinging her arm for an attack Beth seemed to have suddenly changed and had jumped to the right and had her fist hitting the same area, between the ribs and pelvic bones. _Beth was acting, what a…_ Her train of thought was broken by another hit to this area, as Beth had her knee implant itself into her abs. knocking her into another level of pain. Beth let go and she plummeted to the floor. Hitting softly against the crash mat, she lay still for a couple of seconds before Beth bowed to her and offered he a hand. "Come on, just because I kick your pretty ass doesn't mean I can't be nice." She said.

Kat grabbed her hand and Beth heaved the Spartan on her feet. "You only won because I was tired." She said. "Shower?" She asked, Beth gave back a nod in agreement and they bot made for the door.

_**1900 hours, 28 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Outside Main Building **_

Beth offered her hand to Kat, who took it and shook. "It has been nice knowing you, even though it has been a couple of weeks."

Kat smiled at this. "Likewise." She brought Beth in closer and whispered. "Just make sure they stay out of trouble, especially Tom."

Beth laughed. "Don't worry, if I can kick your ass I sure as hell can kick Tom's."

Kat left the grip of Beth's hand and turned towards the Pelican, before stepping onto the ramp she turned and gave her team; Beth, Tom, Lucy, Min and Adam, a quick wave before turning back into the aircraft. The doors closed as she sat down and buckled herself in. She composed herself by taking a deep breath. This was going to be one hell of an assignment, she was going to leave her team, and in the eyes of Kat, her family, to join some new task force named NOBLE.

_**1200 hours, 7 January 2544 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Camp Currahee, Lieutenant Commander Ambrose's Office**_

There was a knock at the door. Kurt ordered his papers and shouted. "Come in." The door opened and Beth walked in.

She came to attention and saluted. "I am here as by your orders, sir." She said I a monotonous and professional tone.

"At ease Spartan." He said, his voice had a slightly disheartened feel to it. It indicated something was off. "I just go a message from my superiors. You will be leaving tomorrow." He sighed

"Sir permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead Spartan."

"Didn't I just arrive sir? I don't believe I am combat ready and I don't know if I could kill another person." She stated.

"I know, but orders are orders and I have to comply to them, and when you signed on to the program you have basically become a tool of certain Coronal."

"Ackerson?"

"Ackerson. That man wants someone like you, and with no connections and stuck in a corner. I am sorry to say petty officer, but you are just what Ackerson wants. He is getting you transferred to Reach at 1900 hours tonight, back your belongings. You are going to join Project SABRE."

"May I ask what that is?"

"I am not cleared, I only know the name and even that was hard to get a hold of." He handed a file with UNSC and ONI labelled in the top right corner. There were also in big bold letters a label stating 'Eyes only, no photocopying, top secret.' He looked down at his mountain of work and said. "Dismissed." Beth simply came to attention, saluted, turned about and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

She marched down the corridors of Currahee until she made it to her room; she swung open her door and just as quickly closed it. It was too much for her to handle, one month ago she had came to this place, she had been drafted into service of some military that she had know about for just as long, she had within her time here been tampered and altered to become a super soldier, she had made friends here, one she had lost contact to recently and now she was going to lose the rest of them. She grabbed a glass and threw it at the wall, and curled up into a ball and cried.

There was a knock at her door. Beth straightened herself out and wiped her tears from her eyes to look presentable. She grabbed the handle and twisted it. It was her team. Adam spoke up. "May we come in?" Beth nodded and the four people entered the room. They sat down on the bed whist Beth sat on her desk chair after quickly wiping off some of the glass. "We heard that you were leaving tonight, an since we are on exercise as of three o'clock we though we would pop by and see how you are and to say goodbye." He continued

"Thanks guys." She sniffled.

Tom glanced at her desk, noticing a box amongst the papers and the carcasses of inkless pens. "You still haven't opened our gift yet."

"I didn't know when it would be the right time. I guess it would be now or never." She sadly smirked grabbing the small box. She took the lid off and was surprised to find a small one and a half inch silver beret badge; it had an eagle on it with its wings spread horizontally along the badge, it looked as if it was flying towards the right of the badge. The badge itself was a five millimetre thick ring with the words 'Air Training Corps' etched on it.

"Kat said that this had some sort of meaning to you, though she didn't say why." Tom scratched his head.

"How did you guys get this, these haven't been around for hundreds of years."

"We called in a favour from Deep Winter to get made on base." He replied.

Beth chuckled at this. "Thank you guys, I sorry that I am leaving but orders are orders, and I sort of sold my soul to ONI and now I am their hands, I am sorry." Her tone had changed very quickly. "If I ever get a chance to get back in contact." She looked at her watch. It was half past one. "It looks like you have to get suited up. And for the record, it has been a pleasure."

Lucy spoke up. "The feeling is mutual." She gave her hand a firm shake. Followed by Min, Adam and Tom. "We WILL hear from you soon."

"I'll try my hardest." Beth replied as the door closed.

**MDAM- Hey, sorry for the slight sob fest, I plan to make things get exciting next chapter, with the addition of some more OC's (your wish has been granted Guest Number 4 and Isahiacarroll968), I might even stick in a couple of more OC's from the past in as well, but no promises. MDAM out.**


	7. SABRE

**MDAM- Hello all, it's me. I have some good news. I plan to do a MEGAUPLOAD of Stargate, Darkness Before Dawn and Untold Prologue, but this is all depending on how much revision and relax time I can get in, it also may be less of mega-upload as I am tempted to use this time to create chapter for the weeks leading up to my exams, though if any chapters are made that are extra, I will release them as some holiday reading. MDAM Out**

C7: SABRE

_**0520 hours, 7 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Orbit of Reach, UNSC Martyrdom, Observation Deck**_

Beth sat cross-legged on the ten-centimetre thick observation window of the phoenix class vessel. They had just dropped out of slipspace and she was taking in the view before her. A marble of blue green and white, landmasses and large oceans all covered with thin strips of cloud, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen. This was technically the first time she had ever been in space, though she had to change from one of the UNSC's Prowlers, the _Thunderchild,_ to this large vessel.

She looked to her left and picked up a brown envelope, on the front in large black letters were the symbols for the UNSC, for ONI and the UEG, but the most prominent was, B312 EYES ONLY. Standing up she turned to face the door and made for the bridge. She dug into her pocket and began to fumble with her silver badge as she got to the elevator. After pressing the button she waited a couple of seconds before the doors opened and she stepped inside. To her left was an ODST and to her right was an officer, she pressed the button for level N, or the bridge level.

A couple seconds passed and the doors opened again and the officer left leaving her and the ODST. The ODST scoffed as he glanced to her shoulder with the Insignia for the Spartan programme on it, an eagle holding three arrows in one talon and a lightning bolt in the other. Beth ignored the man and kept her gaze control, facing the elevator doors.

The doors opened for a second time and they both stepped out and made for the bridge. Walking quickly down she stopped at the entrance. "Permission to enter the bridge Sir."

"Granted."

"Tank you Captain." She saluted, then taking a step into the room. The man had dark hair and blue eyes his skin a pale white from his long tour. He was called Captain David James Cutter, the son of the currently late Captain James Gregory Cutter of the _UNSC Spirit Of Fire._ The man was obviously walking in his father's footsteps by commanding one if the _Spirits_ sister ships.

"Petty Officer, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise sir." She replied.

"I must say fro what I have been able to gather, which is not much by the way, you seem to be able to handle yourself." He said turning around to view the planet for himself.

"Thank you sir." She responded. "You said earlier that you had something for me?"

"Indeed." He handed out another envelope. "They would only allow yours truly, the ONI deliver and yourself to even hold the envelope."

"But I can bet this is just admin. I know it is good to be bureaucratic but this; this is just over the top. I have basically signed the boxes on five different forms that were all the same." She sighed grabbing the letter. "Thank you anyway sir. May I ask when is my flight to the surface?"

"In twenty minuets, enjoy your admin petty officer." He said as Beth saluted.

"Thank you sir." She replied as the salute was returned, turning about she then walked back to her quarters. Taking the lift to level G she disembarked and opened her door. Closing and locking it behind her she grabbed her bag and began to place all of her belongings into it. Fatigues and personal items where squared away, she grabbed her bag, swung it over her shoulder and made her way to the hanger. She pressed the button for the elevator. She waited a few seconds and then it opened, pressing the door for the hanger level she watched the doors close. She could feel the acceleration as the metal box sped up, and vice versa as they slowed

The elevator doors opened to the sound of industry, the fixing, modifying and servicing of the multitude of pelicans, warthogs and mongooses. Beth took a step out and looked around, until she saw the black, silhouette like ONI VTOL. She made her way to the vehicle saluting the officer at the back, who saluted it back.

"Welcome aboard Ensign."

"Ensign?"

The officer smirked. "Get your admin sorted."

"Yes sir." Beth huffed as she clipped herself in.

The doors of the pelican opened, opening onto a large platform with four different pelicans each nestled on their own pad. They sky was blue and air was fresh, looking around Beth saw why. They were next to the sea, expecting a gust of wind, Beth found herself pleasantly surprised with the slight breeze. She looked around some more and saw a large complex. _Impressive._ She thought.

On the way down she had looked in the envelope and saw her new rank slides, a thin gold line with a golden star above it. She had also gained two golden rectangles for her collar. She put her hand in her left pocket and pulled out her badge and began to fiddle with it. It was beginning to become a nervous habit but she was motioned over by a Major in black UNSC AF fatigues.

She walked the mesh steel walkway and came to the rectangular entrance to the building. She stood at attention and saluted the Major who replied with a salute. "Welcome to the Farkas Lake SPLRR, Ensign."

"Thank you sir." Beth retorted. The black haired man gestured towards the door.

"After you." He said and Beth simply nodded in reply. They made their way down the dark corridors of the facility, until they came to a briefing amphitheatre. A single spotlight shone on a lectern, and even though there wasn't anyone speaking the room was filled with people. Beth looked around for a seat, picking one out she looked over at the lieutenant commander who just nodded and turned away, leaving her in a room with people she didn't know. She sighed and made for that seat, sitting down she unzipped her sports bag and removed a laptop from within. It was her old model MacBook Pro that ONI had managed to dredge out a museum that technically belonged to her, thinking that she was too far behind of technology to use a data pad. _Good judges of character may ass. _She thought.

Supposedly it had been sold to a collector a few years back who had a thing for early computers, though by law it still belonged to her as it was sold without her notice as she was somehow still alive, therefore classing it as possession of stolen goods. It had really surprised her when she got her hands on it considering the circumstances, but this collectors item had mostly been locked up in some storage locker in Glasgow for five hundred years, her family completely forgetting that they were paying hundreds of pounds on a lockup they didn't think existed. She was really happy the police in the UK hadn't deleted her details if the device was ever lost.

She booted up the device, which had been modified and fixed by said collector, she was satisfied with the sound it made as it opened to the opening page. Typing in her password, she logged in and opened a new word document. She looked up and waited, looking over her work are she eyed up a bottle of water. Grabbing it she twisted the cap and took a quick sip.

The lights of the main room dimmed, she turned down the brightness of her computer. A man came on stage, Beth instantly recognised him a Corneal Ackerson. _That man would send his own family on a suicide mission if the target were large enough. _Beth thought. The man spoke. "Evening. I am Corneal James Ackerson and welcome to the Farkas Lake SPLRR. As all of you are aware, this is a top secret and action will be taken against you without hesitation if you are found connected with any leak about this programme.

Beth looked down at her computer and typed. _Don't say something stupid._ She looked back up. "Currently there are sixty-four of you, by the end of the selection process there will only be eight of you." _Don't fuck up_. Beth typed. A volumetric display illuminated behind Ackerson. On it was a fighter aircraft, however for some reason it was vertical and had a large number of unneeded fuel tanks if it was doing anything short range. "This is the _YSS-1000 SABRE_, the UNSC's answer to Covenant space engagements and one of our most secretive projects, hence the harsh disciplinary punishments attached to the programme." _Space fighters._ She typed.

"You are some of the UNSC best pilots and some of you are complete greenhorns, that but no one is above one another, you are all of equal rank, but know this, I am god here, all of the officers, be that lieutenants or commanders, are my angles, their word is law, as much as mine is to them." _Note, don't fuck with your superiors, take everything serious, unless it is clearly a joke._ "This only if you are not successful with your training here, at the end of every week eight of you will be pulled from the programme, until we get the cream de la cream. Those of you who are new amongst us don't feel disheartened, we measure your success on progress, as well as skill." He said. "Now I know most of you will be tired from your journeys, some longer than others. I expect that you will be seated back in this room by 0800 in a week today, is that understood?"

"Yes sir." The room chanted.

"Dismissed."

Beth took her ancient laptop and her sports bag to her quarters. Unlocking the door electronically with her multi-pass card, she entered and began to unpack. Glancing at her watch it was around seven in the morning, they had just over a day to settle in. She looked around and found her desk where she noticed a letter. Opening it she took out the piece of paper. On it read

_Ensign Bethany Milton__ Johanna Andrews Milton / Spartan B-312_

_ This letter is for your eyes only; you have been requested by Corneal Ackerson to meet him in his office at 0800 hours today. These are currently your only standing orders bar Cole and basic UNSC protocols._

Setting up her computer and her belongings, Bethany quickly searched through her files on her computer in an effort to distract herself, however he attempts were futile. She stood up and made her way to her door. Throwing of her soft-shell jacket onto the bed. She opened the door and quickly closed it, locking it with her multi-pass she quickly brushed herself off getting off any dirt or dust off her uniform.

She made her way around the base, stopping every so often to look outside the window and take in the view. She then found her self out side the corneal office, glancing at her watch; she was pleased to find it had ticked to 0759, waiting a few seconds the watch rolled over to 0800. She then proceeded to knock on the door. "Come in." She heard, Beth reached for the button and pressed it, coming to attention as the doors opened she saluted. The officer on the chair responded likewise.

"You wished to speak to me sir."

"Indeed I did Miss Milton, please come in." He said.

"Thank you sir." She said walking into the room she stopped and stood at ease.

"Now ensign, you must be wondering why I have asked you to come here." She simply nodded. "Well, as the commanding officer of both Sabre and the Spartan-III programme, I am your superior officer, and as such you will follow my orders. Am I correct."

"Yes sir, so long as they don't contradict standing orders."

"Correct, however you are a special case."

"Sir?"

"You don't technically exist so you don't technically have to abide your standing orders, and this is the true reason why I have had you transferred, I need you to mop up a couple of problems for me." He handed the Ensign an envelope. "You will be leaving tomorrow at noon. Get yourself down to the armoury by 0800 hours; I have a little present for you. That is all." Beth came to attention, and quickly saluted, he responded with another. She took a step to the rear, turned about and walked out the door.

She quickly opened her envelope and found some information over some insurrectionist called James Anders, who had only recently popped up on the UNSC radar less than six months ago, and his file isn't on record, he was only a ghost with a name and an approximate location. And she was going to 'remove him from positively affecting the insurrection'; she was going to have to be the Ackerson's Grim Reaper.


	8. Is It The Man Who Makes The Suit?

C8: Is it the man who makes the suit?

_**0800 hours, 8 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, Farkas Lake SPLRR, Armoury**_

Beth walked into the large armoury, it was around the size of a football field, it was filled with munitions for; the Sabres, the on station vehicles (Both aerial and ground), turret placements and infantry weapons. There were lines of weapons set up in aisles each about ten metres long, filled from, Pistols, to Sniper Rifles to Shotguns. At the end of the room was a line of armours, Marine and ODST BDU's alike, there was a man with short cut jet-black hair at beside a crate, he was dark skinned and wore a white lab coat.

Beth walked towards the man; he was sipping a cup of coffee as a multiple other similarly clad men, milled around the crate, picking it up onto a reinforced titanium grey table. He turned around, a check board under his arm; the bits of blue paper had a bunch of scribbles all over them. Noticing that Beth was standing there, he quickly shifted his cup into his left hand, letting out his hand for a shake. "You must be Spartan Beta-312." He said in an Australian. "It is a pleasure to meet you. The name is Daniel O'Neill."

"Nice to meet you sir, please call me Beth." She said, not quite comfortable by being called by her official title. "I believe you have something of interest that the Corneal wished me to see?"

"Indeed we do." He said turning towards the now unpacked case. It was armour, but only the stuff that Beth had seen in pictures or film. "Here we have MJOLNIR Mark IV Armour. The single most expensive piece of field equipment ever made, you could buy two small frigates with this thing and still have some change left over."

A smile reached across the Spartans face as she looked across the armour. The armour itself was a matte black like the under suit, it visors was a strange golden silver gloss colour. Running her hands over the black, rubbery, gel-layer skin suit she picked it up by the collar. "I take it this is for me?"

"Yes. Please if you will, could you put on the under suit." He said, as the two other members of his team turned around. Beth stripped completely down and pulled open the odd fasteners in the back of the suit, it almost seemed like the gel had ripped open. She put on foot into the suit and then another, she pulled the suit up to her waist. She let out a slight yelp when she noticed how form fitting it was, but she continued. Forcing one of her hands through the arm pieces and then the other, she finally stuck her head through the top, revealing her head.

"I am finished." She said

"Okay." The Australian said as he turned to one of his team. "Josh you sort out the back of the suit, Jack, you get the Chest Piece." He turned back to Beth. "Now, Beth, we are about slowly attach the pieces of armour, try not make any sudden moves, trust me, it could end badly."

"Badly?"

"Imagine your bones being crushed by your own muscles bad. That's what only augmented people can wear MJOLNIR. Trust men, you don't want to see the video." He said as Jack heaved the body piece onto a rig, placing both the front and back of the armour on. Daniel gestured her over. She slid in between the two pieces of metal, the metal slowly encased her chest, and Joshua typed in a couple of commands on his data pad. Suddenly the armour fixed itself in place, the jolt leaving Beth slightly surprised.

Then came the upper arm armour, which came in two parts, each locking as suddenly as the chest piece. Then came the forearm gauntlets, followed by the upper legs, shins and finally the feet. But what shocked Beth was the fact that her armour was locked. Jack looked into Beth's brown eyes with his blue ones. "Okay, take it slow, I am going to unlock your left arm." He typed a few commands into his data pad. "Now, Slowly raise your arm from your leg until it is parallel with the floor."

"Okay." Beth said taking in a deep breath as she slowly brought up her arm, however it shot up faster than she thought. "Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit." She muttered quickly.

"Don't worry, you seem fine. Anything hurt?" Jack asked. She responded with a shake of the head. "Good, good. I do believe the first time is always the hardest. Now the armour may shock you a bit, this is due to the fact that it massively increases the strength of the wearer, your enhanced nervous system allows for this. Now the other arm?"

"Go ahead." She said as her right arm was unlocked, this time with a little more grace and less speed, she lifted her arm up.

"Okay now releasing both arms totally." He said, and Beth slowly began to move her arms around in a back crawl swimming motion. Content with her controllability of movement she nodded back at Jack. "Okay releasing the rest of the upper body." She began to slowly twist and turn her abdominal muscle. She nodded again. "Unlocking all the armour. Remember slow."

"You do know I am not a child." She smirked as she did a couple of squats. _This feels like nothing, I feel like a feather_. She looked at Daniel. "Could you release the rig, I think I want to go for a quick run." She said with her smirk now a fully-fledged toothy smile.

"Good you are impatient."

"Excuse me, you weren't the one who was standing in place for two hours as you got me dressed."

"True." Daniel smiled as he unlocked the rig. Beth was no longer restrained to the one by one metre area but now was able to fully embrace the flexibility of the armour. "Oh and Beth, you might want this." He said throwing a black helmet at Beth, who caught it flawlessly.

"Thanks. Now the run." She said sliding on the helmet. She slid to a garage door. Opening it she stepped out into the sunlight. The HUD booted up in her helmet, it looked similar enough to the ODST BDU HUD that she could guess what each part was. A motion sensor, a currently blank weapon detail space and a describing of her current her internal biofoam dispenser levels, but what left her perplex was the bar above it.

Tapping he chin against one of the helmet buttons she found it was suddenly harder to walk, stamping down hard on the dirt to try and get traction, there was a flare as her foot made contact, the mysterious bar dropped a little. _Holy crap, this suit has shields, AWESOME._ She thought, as she pressed another button, she got better grip on the dirt and she began to run. And god could she run, easily excessing the speed limit for the area, though she slowed down, amazed at what the suit could do.

At this point she was in one of the launch areas of the SABRE's, and she glanced at the clock in the bottom of her HUD, 11:34. _Better get back to the armoury and pick up some equipment_. She though as she raced around the large facility finally was getting back into the armoury. Josh, Jack and Daniel had already finished packing up. However Daniel was sitting on his data pad. "So it seems you have already figured out the shield functionality."

"You could have told me. I mean it is kind of a hard thing to miss, though it is Fucking Awesome." She said. "Anyway, why are you still here?"

"I will be your chief technician and field commander."

"You will be Beth Actual?"

"I guess if you put it like that, yes, oh an I forgot, to properly introduce myself. Lieutenant Cornel Daniel O'Neill, UNSC Air Force." He said, and instantly Beth came to attention and saluted.

"Sorry sir for not doing it earlier." She said, dropping the crisp salute.

He chuckled. "It is okay, I generally don't like formalities. Thanks anyway." He replied with a more mocking salute. "Stand easy."

"So what am I to do?"

"You will be briefed on the Pelican. Fewer eyes and ears about."

_** 1806 hours, 8 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, Loup Mountain Range, **__**Magányos Forest, Pelican Drop ship (Call Sign Ice Gem)**_

"Okay. It is that simple. Go in neutralize the man in any way possible, and keep it silent if possible. All clear?" Lieutenant Cornel O'Neill said, securing a link with Beth on TEAMCOM. Beth replied with a green flash. "Okay, good." He tapped the side of his helmet. "Ice Gem, open the hatch." He turned back to Beth. "Good luck, and lets hope you don't need it."

The hatch opened and Beth stood up in her black armour. Equipped with C-12, a Shotgun, silenced Magnum, a silenced Sniper Rifle, a silenced DMR and four Frag Grenades and currently a Parachute, she stood at the edge of the rear hatch. Giving a mock salute. She jumped out backwards.

Falling through the air at a high speed she quickly deployed her chute four hundred metres above the ground and armour locked her legs. Even with the chute deployed, she made a hasty decent easily going above ten metres a second as she 'landed' in the forest. She collected her chute and quickly stuffed it under a tree. Taking out her silenced DMR and activating her VISR she scanned the area. _Area clear._

She readied herself for her first kill. She was not looking forward to it.

_** 2044 hours, 8 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, Loup Mountain Range, **__**Magányos Forest, Two Miles From Target Base (**__**Szabadság)**_

Beth ran unbelievably fast, dodging tree and patrol alike. Even though she was in a ton of armour, literally, she was nimble and quiet, leaving nothing more than a dent in the ground were she stepped in the soft autumn podzol needles. The patrols seemed lightly armed, but still dangerous. Killing them was not an option, someone would notice them not returning and it would raise alarm.

She found herself walking parallel with a road that lead straight to the Insurrectionist base, Szabadság, or 'Freedom' in Hungarian. She followed the road until their came to a clearing were multiple colonial farm style building and a fence created a large compound. Looking for a way in, Beth spotted a converted civilian Warthog, which looked like a troop carrier but with a tarp on top. Quickly glancing to her right and left, she used the cover of night to slip into the back of the vehicle.

With her now laying in the back of a Warthog she readied her DMR out the back. The car came to a stop, some of the people were speaking in broken Hungarian, and other in fluent. The Warthog started again and they made their way deeper into the compound. The vehicle moved left and into a building, Beth could hear the shutters close. Step one complete. Step two, neutralise the target.

Keeping the DMR straight she got from a prone position into a crouched one and shuffled herself forward, peering out the tarp, she glanced left and right before swinging her feet softly onto the ground and getting back into the crouched position. Cocking back the firing pin, she chambered the first round of her DMR.

She noticed the driver was getting a coffee from a machine. So she took this opportunity to sneak around and go up from the lower vehicle storage up to the work area and then quickly sneaking into the main corridor after checking her corners. She noticed a sign with the letters CO Office engraved on it. _Well that was easy. _She thought as she silently snuck through the building, she finally came to a wooden door and pulled out her silenced magnum.

She knocked on the door. No reply. She quietly opened the door and snuck into the dark room. _Secondary Objective, collect any information regarding the insurrection._ She snuck around the room looking for any documents that could be recorded. After looking over, over a multitude of building schematics and plans, she moved over to a filing cabinet. It being more secure than a computer, which could be hacked, the filing cabinet would have the most sensitive files. Pointing the muzzle at the lock, Beth shot it off, the one that was labelled James Anders, Personal. She looked through the file and a small plastic card fell out. The letter L in the top right corner, Beth gasped. _Milroy, Matthew, 30/09/1997_


	9. Or The Suit That Makes The Man?

C8: Or the Suit that Makes the Man?

_**2114 hours, 8 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, Loup Mountain Range, **__**Magányos Forest, **__**Szabadság Base, CO's Office (James Anders / Matthew Milroy)**_

Beth took off her helmet, letting her short, now brown hair to be exposed to the air. She placed it on the table and rooted through the other pieces of Matthews past life. A jacket, a wallet, a dog lead, a phone and a pair of headphones was what she found.

_Matthew, Fucking, Milroy. Of all the places, of all the people, it is my best mate._ She couldn't quite grasp the enormity of the situation, that not only were there more people from her time, but people from her local area, her friend circle too. She clicked on Matthews Microsoft Lumia phone; the date was exactly three months and one day after the 24th of December 2014, which meant he disappeared on the same night as her.

Running her hand through her hair, Beth looked deeper into his file. He managed to get the rank of lieutenant in the United Rebel Front. _Go Matt._ She thought reading further. He was found by the URF a couple of miles out side of the perimeter of ONI sword base, who were planning to do a raid on the area. Supposedly this is where he immediately called himself James Anders from the get go. He was immediately commissioned into the URF, and even though he was fed propaganda about how the URF would lead to a better world, he had over the past three months shown that he didn't really agree with some of his superiors, he saw corruption that most URF fighters didn't as he had a different perspective.

He was promoted from second lieutenant a month ago after he shot and captured an ONI spy. _Matt shot a guy!_ He was given a post at this outpost as its commanding officer for his work, though it is believed that this is an effort of his superiors to make him as little as a problem as possible for them due to him questioning there motives a couple of times.

Beth was impressed with what he had done over that past three months, she kept looking through his siles when she heard the click as a door opened. She spun around quickly upholstering her pistol and pointing it towards the intruder, who flicked the switch and looked up. His eyes glanced at the desk, noting the signature Mark IV Spartan helmet, then at the person who was pointing a silenced ODST magnum towards him. Noting her short, buzz cut hair, her piecing emerald green eyes looking into his peaty brown ones.

Beth gave him a once over, he was wearing black fatigues, polished black boots, and his dark, almost back, brown hair was cut short. She instantly recognised him as Matthew. "Evening." She said, smiling as his face began to drain, thinking about how screwed he was.

"Evening?" He said, unsure how to react, so he kept looking he over. "May I ask why you are in my office?"

"Just browsing." She said. A weak smile of a terrible poker face crossed his faced. "It has been a while."

"Come again?" He said.

"Come again, Sergeant." She correct, hoping he would make the connection.

His face dropped with sudden realisation. "Beth?"

"And the million pounds goes to Cadet Milroy." She said sarcastically. The gun still aimed at his face.

"Well, this is new." He said.

"It is always something isn't it."

"Indeed." He said, still not sure where the conversation should go. "I see you look different, I like the suit."

"Oh you noticed?" She mocked. "Is it the hair?"

"That and the one ton armour that could take a scorpion round."

"Does it make me look fat?"

"No comment. So, I take it you are here to kill me."

"No neutralise." She said, her face dropping, imagining having to kill her friend. "So pack your bags. Or don't' just make it that I don't have to kill you. I don't want that blood on my hands."

"You wouldn't."

"I don't have an option. I don't technically exist anymore, so technically the UNSC can do anything they wanted and nothing would come to light. I am a pawn with the power of a queen." She said. "And I have read you don't really like your job."

"This is true, but it is better than the UNSC."

"If you haven't noticed Matt, there is a war going on. I think they have a decent reason to keep things fairly strict ad under martial law. Plus I am not taking no for an answer. I will knock you out is it is required."

"Bite m…" he said before being cut off by a quick jab to the head by Beth.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" She said, heaving him over her left shoulder. She quickly grabbed and put on her helmet, the HUD quickly booting up. She held Matthew with her left hand, and her pistol with the other.

She snuck around corridor, and down a staircase were she came down to the garage. The driver was sitting down by a radio, listening for a job. Laying Matthew against the wall she took a deep breath. _Just go in and pull the trigger. It is just a target nothing else._ She balanced the weapon in her hand, took on last breath and stepped through the door.

It seem almost like time had slowed when she pulled up the weapon and pointed it at the rebel, she pulled the trigger. She could almost feel the mechanism operate the hammer as it struck the back of the bullet. It felt like a centaury as the small round fired out the front of the barrel and toward the face of the unaware guard. The blood painted the floor.

Time suddenly felt like it had sped up again. Beth couldn't believe what she had just done; she had killed a person, but she put it to the back of her mind. She grabbed Matthew and put him into the back of one of the warthogs. She pressed the button that opened the garage door. She quickly turned the key and activated the engine; she pressed the accelerator and headed straight for the checkpoint.

She rammed the car straight into the bar gate and into the forest. By the base was alerted. She raced down the dark road, pushing the vehicle to its maximum. Passing tree by tree through the coniferous, pine forests.


	10. Firefight

**MDAM- Sorry that this chapter is late, I was violently ill this weekend, and I couldn't write more than a few sentences before keeling over a bucket. But Better late than never, now enjoy a Firefight.**

C10: Firefight

___**2130 hours, 8 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, Loup Mountain Range, **__**Magányos Forest, Three Miles from **__**Szabadság Base**_

Beth changed from fifth to sixth gear and pressed the accelerator before breaking radio silence. "This is Bravo-312 to Hotel Quebec, do you copy?"

"Hotel Quebec to Bravo-312, we hear you loud and clear, what do you request?"

"I need an extraction ASAP."

"Copy that 312, which landing site?"

"Beth looked over her HUD, the closest site being a clearing in he coniferous forest two miles to the east. "Landing site Charlie, note that I am carrying fragile and sensitive cargo and maybe some heat."

"Copy that, see you in forty-five minuets, Hotel Quebec out." The radio cut out, now she was alone for the next three quarters of an hour.

She dropped a gear as she came as close to the clearing that the road allowed, before bringing the car to a final halt. Reaching over, she grabbed her weapons and attached them to her respective parts of her armour. And she jumped out the vehicle and went around the back and heaved out Matthew and laid him on the floor.

Now she had to hide the hog, so she began to push it to the left side of the street where she finally kicked it down the to hill into the valley below. She leaned over and picked up Matthew jumping into the undergrowth as the sound of engines roared in the night, scaring the birds and making them flutter in the early morning twilit sky, silhouetting on the moon. The rebels searching for any sign of the their commander and said commanders kidnapper. It wasn't just the sound of warthog engines that rang through the night but the sound of hornets too, their searchlights illuminating the ground.

The silence slowly returned, only ever broken by the slight muffled murmur of a slowly awakening Matthew as he lay unmoving on the floor. Beth stood up and hoisted Matt over her shoulder before quickly running and dodging and running around the bases of the hundred year old Reach pines, across the podzol covered ground, orange needles spraying up as the two tonne behemoth in Mark IV jumped up and over the slight contours on the ground.

She stopped ever so often to check for patrols but so far, everything was clear, she had half a mile to go until she was at the clearing. She still had the best part of an hour left until her extraction arrived. With Matt on her shoulder left shoulder, she grabbed some C-12 she had on her side pocket; she had a half-kilo of the stuff, which was enough to destroy the Archimedes tower in New Alexandria three times over.

Now in the clearing, which was at the bottom of the valley, she placed Matt in the middle. Checking her clock, she noted it was thirty minuets until arrival. But her mind snapped to another fact, there was the sound of engines again, and growing louder from all directions. She needed to think and act fast.

And with that she began to dig herself in.

_**2157 hours, 8 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, Loup Mountain Range, **__**Magányos Forest, Five Miles from **__**Szabadság Base**_

Six UNSC standard warthogs loaded with insurrectionist soldiers, five had mounted chain guns and one was a troop transport. Three hornets flew overhead, their weapons and spotlights all trained on the lone figure standing in the centre of the clearing.

"We have you surrounded, put your weapons on the ground, and put your hands in the air." Shouted one of the soldiers. Beth did what she was told, on the floor went her remaining explosives, her DMR, pistol, Shot sun and Sniper Rifle. "Now take a step back." And again she complied. Her hands in the air, glancing back at her clock, she had still had just fewer than twenty minuets until extraction. The soldier turned to her comrade, nodding towards them, indicating them to detain her.

At this point Beth smiled, as she tapped he chin against a small button in her helmet, and suddenly multiple hidden pieces of C-12 explosives detonated, one even was placed under a vey unfortunate Warthog. The enhanced plastic explosive ignited the hydrogen fuel cell inside the vehicle, creating a beautiful fireball, which engulfed the entire crew. Others where also hadn't touched wood, their bones broken and their skin burnt by the resulting explosions, which killed half offensive team.

By this time Beth was already running forward and grabbed her DMR and shotgun, attaching the rifle to her back, she chambered a round. And with this she ran into the dazed and confused innies, sliding with the momentum of a car crashing, Beth charged into a soldier feet first, cracking ribs and puncturing the lungs before finishing him of by landing on him as the Spartan crushed the poor mans internal organs. By this point, Beth's mind was just shooting anything that moved.

The hail of tiny balls of metal hit the face of one of the soldiers, shredding it into a fine red mist. _Chuh Chunk._ A brown cartridge flew out, by this point Spartan time had kicked in and another storm of metal entered and exited the part of the body where the chest should have been. _Chuh Chunk._ A shell flew out. And now the gun was pointed towards the face of a mounted turret operator. Who was in the midst of moving the turret to face Beth, but was cut shot as the shotguns trigger was pulled. _Chuh Chunk_. She chambered another round

Beth jumped onto the turret and began to point it towards one of the three hornets, she needed them down then they wouldn't have air superiority. The .50 calibre machine gun began to rotate and a spray of bullets began to pepper the hornets, which at this point had begun to return fire. Beth's shield dropped to seventy-five per cent, when the airmen on the side of the first hornet fell off, and the sheer mass of concentrated fire from her broke the bullet proof glass and punctured the cockpit, killing the pilot. Their concentrated fire also began to wear down the Warthog to such an extent that it was beginning to smoke.

Her shields had now dropped to fifty per cent, she needed cover, she retreated back down to the stream where she left Matthews still slumbering body. The bells that rang out in her helmet slowly stopped with her shields returning back to their full and she popped out side her hidey-hole with he DMR, taking pot shots at the Hornets that where making their way towards her position, along with a number of soldiers. Cocking back the chamber of the bullpup rifle she fired four rounds, and for targets, the adrenaline in her system keeping her alert and registering ever detail, every drop of blood, every tracer and every body.

The two hornets hovered overhead; she needed her sniper rifle to take them out. So with three quick breaths she ran out into a hail of gunfire, her shields taking the brunt of the hammering. As twenty soldiers, three on heavy machine guns fired at her. She slid down and grabbed her rifle and explosives, before dashing back to cover. She attached the weapons to their respective holsters and primed two grenades and threw them over her shoulders before rolling into cover.

Grabbing her Sniper she, used the eight times zoom Oracle sight, aimed and fired the Armour Piecing rounds into the cockpit, downing the pilot in an instant, and crashing the aircraft into the ground, its fuel igniting and exploding. She turned to the other and fired another round, again hitting the mark, but this in the shoulder. The aircraft lost control and crashed into a group of soldiers on the offensive.

Glancing at her clock, she noticed that she had two minuets until her ride was to arrive. Using the rest of the ammunition in her sniper, two more kill, fifteen left. Ashe tossed the rifle to the side and began to fire her DMR. _Bang._ Head shot. _Bang._ Heart shot. _Bang_. Another, and another until there where only five left, also at this point Beth was in close proximity, so she removed her shot gun and prepped it against her shoulder.

She stood up and fired, chambered, fired, chambered, fire, chambered, fired, chambered and fired for a fifth and last time, all within the space of five seconds, hardly enough time for a sufficient reaction. They were all dead, an entire platoon of soldiers. Beth dropped her shotgun at her feet, the sound of two twin jet engines roared above. Walking over to Matthew with a slight limp gained from a bio-foam filled gunshot she opened a radio channel.

Her voice broke. "This is Bravo 312, requesting pick up, over."

"We hear you 312, grab the package and get on board." Said O'Neill.

"Yes Sir, 312 out." She said before tapping the communication button with her chin.

Leaning over a now stirring Milroy, she grabbed him and heaved him over her shoulder. He made a moan, but Beth refused to listen, she had a lot on her mind. She walked over to the now landed vehicle, and saluted the lieutenant colonel, before placing and securing the seventeen year old in his seat. She quickly grabbed her scattered equipment of the insurrectionists and her own weapons, before sitting back in her own seat. Sitting next to her mate, she removed her helmet as the Pelican took off.

The sky was turning orange as the day broke, the sun dawning on the horizon, piecing the low could like a hot knife through butter. But the colonel had other plans. "You see that Innie base you just infiltrated." Beth replied with a nod, when suddenly a shock wave caused minor turbulence a MAC round pieced the sky and flattened the camp. "Well not anymore." He smiled; Beth just stared at him, her helmet masking her anger.

"Yes sir." She muttered, looking down at her hands, she removed her helmet and placed it next to her, the back hatch now closed.

"So who is this fragile package then?"

She cleared her throat. "This is James Anders, or as I better know him as, Matthew Milroy, aged seventeen biologically, but five hundred and forty seven by my best of knowledge." She said giving her superior Matts Licence.

"Five hundred and forty seven. Well butter my balls and call me a biscuit, he is as old as you."

"Who's as old a who?" A voice muttered.

"I am as old as you Matt."

"Really. I wouldn't have guessed, Beth." He murmured, Beth and O'Neill unsure if it was sarcasm or his recovery from being hit lightly by a Spartan, but they gave him the benefit of the doubt. But he continued. "But have you Spooks ever thought that since there are two of us, that there may be more like us." The colonel looked at the ensign. "Just a passing remark."

_**0322 hours, 9 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / S**__**ol, Earth, EAP, Kenya, New Mombasa, Sector Ten**_

Ross had been walking around new Mombasa for months; luckily for him he had his wallet on him. To say the least he was bewildered, confused, and downright gob smacked by the sudden appearance of space elevators and incredibly modernised Kenya, which, from what Ross checked the last time, was a third world country.

Luckily the contents of his wallet would me in handy, the price of a genuine fivers, pound coins and coppers he had in his wallet where worth a lot. However, there was a snag, no credits card meant no transaction, and in order to get a credits card you need an account with a bank, which meant and up to date ID.

So here was Ross, standing across the bridge from the local headquarters of the most secretive and dangerous organisation in human history, and he was going to waltz right in and ask for help. _God I am desperate. _He thought as he took his first step towards the black cube.

He had been living on the streets for some time now, begging what his way of doing things, but he needed the food, and stealing was is method or forte. He was tempted to join the military; at least there he could have a purpose, fighting this strange Covenant. But right now, he was walking straight into the last place any human being would want to be, into the clutches of the office of naval intelligence. But people do weird things in the face of starving.

He walked through the spacious courtyard, the sandstone building on either side, palm trees dancing in the silent wind. And the silence, the deafening silence that came with being on ONI soil. There wasn't a bird; there weren't any guards, or even a soul, all but Ross.

He walked through the entrance, into a large and lavish interior, empty, apart from the receptionist who sat, not paying Ross any mind. He stepped forward to the desk, where he removed his wallet from his pocket and took out a small plastic card. The receptionist looked up

"Welcome to the New Mombasa ONI Alpha Site, do you have an appointment?"

"No. I, err…" he stuttered. Thinking his words over he started to talk to the ginger receptionist. "I wish to update my very, very out of order Identification." The woman didn't have much of a reaction to this. "You see, I have a very, individual, problem that the Police or any other authority would laugh at, that is why I am here." He handed her his Young Scot Card. "As you can see, it is slightly out of date."

There were footsteps, and then suddenly, his world went to black.


	11. Breakdowns and Briefings

**And here is the third chapter up this week, and the second Halo Reach: The Untold Prologue chapter, and the one that is more chopped up than a brute chopper chopped with an energy sword by an elite with anger issues. Any way, this method of un-chronological writing is relatively new to me, lets see how this goes down *****sigh*****.**

C11: Briefing

_**2135 hours, 9 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, **__**Farkas Lake SPLRR, Interrogation Room B-5**_

ONI, they go under everyone's skin, and they knew the best methods of carrying out interrogation, the use of uncomfortably low Nano Tube chairs, dimly lit rooms with ceilings that seemed to be infinitely tall as the walls fade into the shadows. The conveniently placed lights, which hid the face of the interrogator but blinded the interrogated, made the man on the receiving end very uncomfortable.

Matt shifted in the incredibly low and poorly designed seat. "You do realize, if you want to know me, just look me up of Facebook, or just read all of the files that Bethany recorded." He said simply. "So why do you have me here. Oh, wait, let me guess, you want to know where the rest of 'my kind' are." The man just sat their silent. "Because in all honesty I have as good of an idea as the next guy."

"We had a Smart AI go through everything Beth picked up. We want you to explain why you have been looking up events that have happened thirteen years prior to now, looking up any cases of people without up to date identifications, or lack there of." Said the interrogator. "And also vintage identification cards."

"Here I thought the I in ONI stood for Intelligence, not Incompetence."

"We know why, we just need it for the record."

"Okay, I was searching if anyone else was in the same kettle of fish I was, and I did find some leads, though when I checked up on Harvest and Arcadia, I found out that they were glassed, and you know what they say about glassed planets and records."

"But not glassed people." He smiled handing over a document.

_**0930 hours, 6 February 2231 (Military Calendar) / Slipspace from Epsilon Indi to Procyon, UNSC Spirit of Fire, Civilian Debrief room C-4**_

"I was stuck; I had nothing on me but the clothes on my back, a wallet with nothing more than some loose change and a backpack with my laptop and swimming equipment inside, which was all I owned. When I arrived on this planet just under a month, I was found by a couple of innies in their car whilst I was walking down a back road in the middle of a blizzard with nothing more than a scarf covering my face and a thick jacket covering my body, thank god it was winter when I blacked out. The innies took me in and got me settled in at the remnants of the town of Tigard." Said the Dirty Blonde teenager.

"That was twenty nine days ago, but two days ago something strange happened, an alien force called the Covenant attacked the settlement, killing a large number of those who aided him. Then out of the blue, a large contingent of UNSC forces came swooping down, many warthogs came crashing through, and killing the covenant forces, Hornets flew over head, and I was evacuated." He continued.

Then the sergeant spoke. "How did you find yourself on Harvest?"

"All I remember was walking home from swimming practice, on Earth, blacking out and finding myself stuck on Harvest with all the stuff that was on my person, bar the BDU and the assault rifle."

The sergeant spoke to the AI. "Sierra, please do a background check the next time we have a data package from Earth." He then turned back the David. "Consider yourself drafted into military service private David McGregor, we are going to need all able hands when we get to Arcadia."

_**2136 hours, 9 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, **__**Farkas Lake SPLRR, Interrogation Room B-5**_

"David fucking Bremner." He chuckled. "Of the all people, it would be him of all people who in so act of blind luck, managed to get evacuated of world at the last minuet."

"Yes, but unfortunately, he, along with this person is lost with all hands alongside this fellow." He said sliding along another document. "A Cameron McGregor."

The expression of Matthews face became solemn. He sighed, "Well, at least there is a chance that they are still alive." He said as he grabbed the other file and read it.

_**0105 hours, 7 February 2231 (Military Calendar) / Proycon, Orbit Around Arcadia, UNSC Spirit of Fire, Civilian Debrief room C-4**_

"Name?"

"Cameron McGregor."

"Age?"

"Sixteen."

"Occupation?"

"None."

"Family?"

"None that I know of." Said the teenager sitting in the chair, staring at the petty officer taking his interview with his pale blue eyes. "The closest person I have connection too is David, he is the closest thing to a next of kin I have."

"How do you know one another?"

"We went to school together, on Earth."

"How long have you been on Arcadia?"

"One month." He glances at his watch. "More of less one the dot."

_**2135 hours, 7 April 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, **__**Farkas Lake SPLRR, Interrogation Room B-5**_

"This was all in the last data packet that was sent by the _UNSC Spirit of Fire_, and it wasn't until this year with the arrival of Beth and yourself that we looked into this very, very cold case."

"How cold?"

"So cold that it has been the subject of terrible Fan Fiction since the early twenty-second century. But when you hear about forty-nine teenagers between the age of fifteen and eighteen go disappearing over night without much more than a pile of ash and dust from where they once were tends to raise a few eyebrows."

"And let me guess, Beth, David, Cameron and myself are all on this list."

"On the money."

"But why are you telling me this, isn't this an interrogation?"

"Yes and no, the Colonel thought it would be a good idea to put you under the microscope to see if you had any more beans to spill, but this was in fact a briefing, you are going to aid Beth in an assassination

"It would only be ONI who would dress up a briefing as a interrogation." He muttered.

The man picking up on what he just said. "It was Beth's idea."

"Son of a Bit…" he started. "Sorry." He mumbled before clearing his throat. "Mission?"

"Yes. I take it you know of Ross Anzac." He questioned, even though he knew the answer.

"What, you mean that student who came from the land down under? Yeah, I know him, I take it he got caught up with all this wibbily wobbly timey whimy stuff." The man just nodded. "Oh great, what did he do this time." Matt said sarcastically.

"He handed himself into the ONI branch in Mombasa, Kenya. But the mission itself is to kill a corrupt official of the Messiah Weapons manufacturer on Mars." He took out one final dossier. "Peter Krüger, second largest investor into the company, second only to the UNSC itself, however, he has been using his influence to siphon off large amounts of weapons and ammunition to questionable sources, in fact you where one of them as a commander in the URF."

"So what is the plan?"

_**2203 hours, 9 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, **__**Farkas Lake SPLRR, Beth's Quarters**_

The six foot nine Spartan was curled up in the foetal position, her eyes wide open, though she was trying to get some sleep. Standing up she walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, not believing she was the person looking back. Her skin where raw from rubbing her tear-stained eyes, but quickly she washed her face, cleaning it before slipping back into her room, she grabbed her jacket a scarf and a pair of gloves as she exited her room.

She needed a walk, and proper alone time; there was so much on her mind. She descended the aluminium stairs down towards armoury. With her scarf covering her mouth and nose and her fingerless gloves in her pockets, she opened the doors to the large warehouse full of ammunition and weapons, vehicles and BDU's, but tucked away beside a workbench was an inconspicuous box labelled 'B-312'. Flicking the locks off she opened the box.

Inside was her Mark IV armour, she needed to distract herself, and tinkering with her armour seemed the best way to go. Rummaging through the discard bins, she found a couple of ODST shoulder plates, and a number of tactical pouches. Returning back to the bench she began disassembling the armour pieces and threw away the broken parts. Reaching back into the case, she grabbed he Mark IV right plate and took it apart, seeing what parts matched, luckily most parts did. She assembled the ODST plating around the Mark IV central hub before adding bits of Mark IV to beef up the strength of the plate.

She heard the doors open and saw Matt walk in, he too was wearing a jacket, scarf and gloves. "I thought you would be down here."

"How come?" she asked.

"You looked like you had a lot on your mind and you looked like you wanted a distraction." He said, but she gave no response. "So tell me what's on your mind."

She packed her equipment away and stood up. "Lets walk." She said as they made their way to the door that lead to the outside. The night sky was clear, and one of the moons was visible. The walked along one of the lower landings, one floor above the beachfront, the moonlight illuminating the sands and waves

"So…" Matthew started. "what is bothering you, and trust me, I have known you for five hundred and so years, so I can tell if you are lying."

She took a breath. "When you look at me what do you see."

"Bethany Milton, my best mate and now a motherfucking Spartan."

"But do you know what I see." She said. "I can't even look in the mirror and believe it is me, I have killed people, yes they may be the 'Enemy', but they are human, with families, friends and a life. Then suddenly one night I take out over thirty of them with inhuman efficiency. I made many thirty families wonderer where their loved ones went." She said in a whisper, as she stared out into the distance, her eyes beginning to water. "And yet here I am standing alive and well, no injury bar a small bullet wound which go easily fixed."

"Beth it is okay, it was kill or be killed."

"They were men under your command, and I killed them. Do you feel anything for them." Her voice growing in volume.

"I was their CO, but I was only really a relay in the chain of command, I was doing admin and I never really got to know them. They felt nothing for me, half of them thought I was a UNSC spy, and the only reason they came after me was to stop me giving them their secrets." His voice was beginning to rise too.

"But look at me, I am a killer, a murderer, and I sorry, but now you are UNSC property, they will push things on you that you wont like."

"But you see, you are not the killer, the UNSC were just using you." He began to soften his voice.

"But I still killed them." She began to sob. "Do you know what that is like?"

Resting against the Titanium-A she slid down and Matthew joined her. "Luckily for me I was never put into that position, I don't envy you in the slightest, but the road isn't going to get easier, but at least we got each other to speak and open up to." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"I missed the times we spent together over the past few months."

"Likewise." Then repeated softly. "Likewise."

**And that is that, hope you enjoyed this weeks chapter, it being the second and a half story I wrote this week along side re-editing The Radiance, writing a argumentative essay about British Education reform and re-editing a story about the Bore War all for English, so super happy fun times :)**


	12. Ares

C12: Ares

_**0800 hours, 10 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani, Reach, Orbit, UNSC Martyrdom, Observation Deck**_

Looking across the surface of the planet from orbit was quiet the sight for anyone, whether you were a seasoned captain of a atlas class carrier or a civilian of coming up from the surface for the first time on a space elevator, the sight of the blue, green and white marble of Reach would always be a sight to behold. Beth had taken a SABRE up into orbit, to catch up on some of the training she had missed whilst she was away on assignment, she along with Matthew in the back seat flew from the Farkas lake testing facility an hour earlier and had participated in a small agility training exercise with the _Martyrdom_.

Much to the surprise of Beth and the crew both in land and space, Matt had actually been a decent weapons officer during the combat situation, knowing when and where to release the flares and which drones would be the biggest threat and when to fire. But at the moment they sat on the observation deck on the underside of one of the last phoenix class ships left in existence, this model being over se five years old, or a geriatric by ship standards. "Jump to slipspace in ten seconds." The speakers system announced to the crew.

Beth leaned towards Matt. "Wait until you see this, and prepare yourself for the most impressive use of human ingenuity to rip open a path through the fabric of space-time."

"Entering slipspace in Three, Two, One." The speaker announced as a massive purple sphere appeared and swallowed up most of the field of view, and the ship flew straight into it. Matts face was lit up with awe, obviously not quite believing what he just saw.

"Well fuck me." Was all that came out of his mouth. "I have always heard of slipspace opening was something to behold, but that, that was unbelievable. To think I thought that we could smash tiny fundamental particles together with a machine with an interior area of a city was the height of human technology only to find out we use the same technology to rip open the universe and fly to other stars is just bat shit crazy and unbelievably clever." He said as he observed the murky and inky blackness that was Shaw-Fukajawa space.

"Well someone's been reading up on their 'star ship 101'."

"I do aim to please." He smirked as they stood up from the long couch.

"Let's get going."

_**1909 hours, 11 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Mars, Orbit, UNSC Martyrdom, Landing Deck**_

"So is the mission clear?" Beth asked.

"Crystal." He said. "I go in, still using out old CO's name looking to change the terms and conditions of the weapons deal we set up previously. You fire a high calibre, super sonic, laser guided round into the guys' head with a sniper rifle, whilst I throw up when all the blood sprays over me. Then I run back to the Pelican, whilst you run away from the police. I think that's it, isn't it?"

"Good." She said as she closed the back hatch of the Pelican drop ship. "That should be it. Remember that there is a change of clothes two streets down in an ONI safe house." She noted as she turned to the cockpit. "Okay sergeant, fire it up." And like that the two twin engines began to fire. The ship jolted up and left the hanger and began its descent into the atmosphere of Mars.

The pelican glided through the atmosphere as the red sunrise began to dawn over New Paris. The oceans of Mer of the coast of the continent of Greater Gaul fed by the city's Nouvelle Seine River. The city was twenty thousand square kilometres (four thousand square kilometres larger than Beijing in 2015). Quickly dusting off his suit, Matthew got sorted through his bag. One standard Misriah Armoury pistol, a number of documents, credits cards, fake identification along side _Winds Of Winter _book by G.R.R Martin was what was in his bag, though Matthew did find it odd but grateful, that people still read books instead of using data pads, even though it was the twenty sixth century, though he still got a few odd looks from the crew of the _Martyrdom_.

He glanced over to Beth; she was fiddling around with the parts of a SRS 99D-S 2 AM Sniper rifle so that they could be fitted inside a duffle bag. She also had a single magazine with a single bullet in it. A sticker on the side labelled_, For Philippe Barbu, Lots of Love, MP_, alongside multiple other magazines. Was also packing a BR35HB Battle Rifle. She zipped up the bag and looked up and their eyes locked. "You ready?"

Matthew sighed as he closed his bag. "As ready as you can be when you are about to take part in a political assassination in order to prevent increased destabilisation of the governance of the UNSC in order to protect the human race from extinction, a destabilisation method that I was part of until a small time ago, I am as ready as I can be." He smiled in a mocking manner. "You?"

"Yep." She sighed. "Lets get this over and done with." She said as she grabbed the bag and slung it over her shoulder. Matthew doing the same with his single strap bag over his. They stood at the hatch until there was a thud.

"The eagle has landed." Matthew muttered, gaining a small chuckle from Beth, as they stepped out onto the tarmac landing site at the New Paris Space Port. The day was clear, not a cloud in the sky, glancing at his watch Matt noticed it was quarter to eight standard time, but it looked as if it was quarter to twelve in the morning. The sun beating down on the black surface as they crossed it to get into a civilian warthog. Getting in, the duo made for the centre of the city.

"This is so surreal." Beth said as they drove on the motorway. "Look at us, you in a suit and tie, and me in plain clothing driving down a motorway, on Mars none the less, here to assassinate a high ranking member of the largest weapons manufacturer in UNSC space, ironically with one of their own weapons."

"Also to find that one of your friends is in fact a super soldier that made an entire militia disappear in a night. All this after waking up one day to find I am in the future. To say the least it is a large amount of information to take in. I mean seriously, aliens attacking the human race."

"Well I got some good news."

"Care to Share?"

"We have been given permission, by Ackerson, to get some closure."

"Closure?"

"We have been allowed to visit home, see what happened to our homes and see our own graves." She said bluntly. "According to the good colonel, we are less reliable if we don't get these thoughts about what happened to our families, our friends and us."

"I see." Matt said as the vehicle entered the cities central Business District. The glass and steel monoliths standing tall dwarfing the duo like a man and an ant. They came to a stop and Matthew got out and put in an earpiece. "See you in a bit, I am going grab a coffee with a marked man." He said, not utterly pleased with what he was about to partake in, he grabbed his bag and set off down the street. He made his way down to the shop slowly. Browsing the city life around him surprised how little the culture had changed, and also surprised by the sheer size of everything, buildings that put the Burj Kalifa in Dubai to shame.

Then there was the gravity, due to the fact that they where on Mars, everything seemed lighter and less encumbering. The streets where also clean, no chewing gum, no cigarette butts and no broken glass, nothing at all. But the streets where full, cars flying up and down, but the pavements even more so, people walked about heading back to work for lunch, or enjoying their day free. He had his suit jacket over his bag; the warm Martian summer was intense. Even though they where further away from the Sun than Earth, the lack of an atmosphere made the Suns rays more effective at heating of the planet.

Looking up he saw the shop name, Café Sacra Coeur. It was a small place, but was fairly busy, a table outside reserved. Matthew slid his bag over his head and placed it against his chair.

_**2030 hours, 11 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Mars, New Paris, CBD, Triumph Fanatical Interplanetary Mars Branch Construction Site**_

Beth took of her duffle bag and took out the contents and began assembling the Sniper Rifle. She also took out a laptop, which had an uplink to the weather information around the area so she could compensate for bullet drift. Folding down the Bi-Pod, she dusted of the ground, before lowering herself onto the hard concrete. Aiming the barrel down towards the café three streets down.

Activating her Oracle scope she plugged in the computer for the live weather data. Now she waited. For the man to arrive, the scopes reticule suggesting where to aim whilst it compensated for bullet, wind direction and speed, and her breathing, but now al she could do was wait.

_**2035 hours, 11 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Mars, New Paris, CBD, Sacra Coeur**_

Matthew glanced at his watch; he had been sitting there for ten minuets, flipping through his 'notes'. _Well, a shipment of a hundred DMR's, Three hundred Assault Rifles, five hundred Pistols, A hundred Battle Rifles, Fifty SAW's, fifty Sniper Rifles, enough C-12, to level a hefty chunk of New Alexandria._ Matthew thought as he looked through the order file. He took a sip of his coffee, a large mocha, and probably one of the best he had ever had, as he put the cup down, he saw a man sit across from him.

"Afternoon." He said. "You must be Mister James Anders, if I am not mistaken."

Matthew stood up and held out his hand. "Indeed it is, Mister Barbu." He said as the man shook his hand. "I know you are a man with a busy lifestyle, so shall we get down to business?"

"A man who gets straight to the point. I like that." He said with a thick French accent.

"How do you think I was promoted so quickly?"

"Touché" He smiled. Matthew trying to keep a smile too, hoping his acting wouldn't fail him. They both sat down, and Matthew took one sip of his coffee. "So what can I help you with today?"

"Would I be possible if I could have these delivered." He said as he passed over his clipboard. "I will see to it that you are paid, generously, if you were to deliver them to us."

"I see, I must say, this is some very heavy duty equipment you are wanting. But I could see a couple of shipments to be 'raided' at the New Alexandria Spaceport." He said grabbing a pen from his pocket. "Now where do I put the ink?" He said as Matthew pointed at the bottom of the page. Then with a deafening crack, the sound of a bullet, a fine red mist replaced the area where Burbu's head once belonged, blood scattering the area like an artwork by Jackson Pollock. Matthew forced down the sick as he stood up quickly the smoke trail drifting away. Looking around, Matthew could see people in panic; this was his opportunity to run, before the police caught up. Grabbing his bag, he stepped over the fabric barrier and began to run down the street.


	13. Northwoods

**Hello guys, I am rewriting this chapter due to the fact that I was rushed to finish it two weeks ago on the Friday I was leaving for Holland to do the Nijmegen Four Day Marches (which I finished :D), so this is an attempt to fixed the rushed half assed version you got before. –MDAM out **

C13: Northwood's

_**2032 hours, 11 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Mars, New Paris, CBD, Triumph Financial Interplanetary Mars Branch Construction Site**_

The spent round flew out of the chamber as Beth loaded a new magazine into the under rifle slot and cocked back the firing pin. A new .50 Calibre round replaced the old carcass of a casing. Twisting the barrel off her modified sniper rifle, she packed it away in her duffle bag. But she removed her BR35HB Heavy Barrel Battle Rifle, a bandolier of grenades and fastened it around her shoulder, tight against her black t-shirt. She took out her pistol and attached it to right hand side of her cream shorts.

The Battle Rifle was customised with a thermal imaging optics as a scope and a casing capture attached over the chamber opening. The weapon was an older version of the BR55HB, the main difference being the fact this was legal to be owned by a civilian. It was an old and unchanged design, originating from the early days of Mariah Armoury; this was used in the twenty second century by the United Nations Space Peace Keeping Organisation (or UNSPKO) branch of the UN during the interplanetary wars, most notably the battle of the London Space Elevator.

Bending over, she collected the computer, the casing and the magazine, leaving no evidence. She looked down into the street, the police already cordoning off the area around the café. Glancing at her watch she noticed she had spent nearly a minuet getting herself ready. It wouldn't be much longer until the city's superintendent, Francoise, would trace the shot to her position with the use of CCTV footage and complex algorithms. Beth took out a small activation device given to her by the Lieutenant Colonel. She was told to press it once she was far away from the building; it was supposedly something to do with evidence. She pressed on toward the emergency staircase and rammed into it with all her force, the cheap aluminium lock breaking. She began to make her way down the flight towards the basement and in turn her escape route.

Reaching the bottom floor, she kicked down the plasterboard door and into a car park, sweeping the area with her rifle. _All clear._ She thought as she made down the concrete hall. Keeping her back to the grey and blue ceiling support pillars, slowly moving by all of the vehicles, until she came across her civilian warthog. Where she chucked her duffle bag inside to boot, before closing the door. She was about to get into the drivers seat until she heard the faint clatter of feet. _Shit, the police._

She slid herself down the side of the hog, the display showing 36 rounds where loaded. She grabbed one of the grenades she had on her baldric. She grabbed a non-lethal concussion and pulled the pin. She glanced at the reflection of one of the cars to see that the police officers were about ten meters behind her. She chucked the grenade rolled the grenade under the undercarriage of her vehicle. One of the officers spoke. "Oh Shi…" but not being able to finish his sentence before a magnesium flash engulfed the room with a light as bright as a Morningstar, the noise disorientated them, making them slightly deaf for the time being. Stepping up behind cover, Spartan Time kicking in, Beth pulled the trigger thrice. The officers didn't have time to react before the bullets passed through their heads. She fired two more shots, two more stunned officers, who noticed her presence, but had no weapons up, where soon dead too. The sixth officer was trying to lift his weapon, but fell once Beth unleashed the three-burst fire into the poor man. The seventh and final officer was aiming down his sights, but Beth fell him with ease, but is seemed to close for her.

Time seemed to have returned to normal. She heard the clatter of more feet, however these had a faster rhythm. _They must have heard the commotion._ She thought as she sized up the officers, picking up the corpse of the largest one. _Should have known I wouldn't get this done without a hitch, good thing I plan contingencies._ She opened the boot and got her duffel bag out again and slung it around her left shoulder. She walked up to a service door and shot at the hinges, and then ripped off the door. The room was filled with pipes and wires that ran parallel to the road above. She ran through the tunnel, the rumbling of New Cosmopolitan Metro could be felt through the floor.

She found a ladder that led into the metro service shafts, Beth lifted up the hatch. Dropping the limp carcass down the hole, landing with a solid thump, she began to descend too, but decided it would be best to rig the hatch with a fragmentation grenade, and so pulled a pin, but put the release under the lid of the hatch. If the hatch were to be opened, there would be one less person on Mars. She slid down the ladder and into the stuffy, dimly lit catwalk above the magnetic monorail. She quickly stripped the man of his clothing, before stripping off her self. She kept on her black t-shirt, but she put on her new trousers, followed by her ONI Soft Shell Jumper. The Black and White Triangle on her left shoulder, the right was covered with the officers' shoulder plating, similar to that ODST. She grabbed his helmet and took out his radio earpiece, she also put on the officers tactical vest. She placed the baldric around her shoulder.

She checked one of the pockets, happy to find it filled with 9.5x44mm round magazine for her battle rifle, happy with her luck that she picked the body of the police squad marksman. "Seems that I don't always have to insult my luck to get it to work." She smiled to herself. As she reached into her bag and got her sunglasses and ONI cap and fitted them to her head. She glanced over to the stripped corpse. She decided to leave him with some dignity, so closed his eye, before standing up and making her way down the aluminium catwalk.

She saw the bright xenon light from the station illuminate the maglev tube. Running down a flight of stairs she started walking on the concrete edge of the train platform. She switched on the radio. "-and. I repeat this is the New Paris Police Department Central Command. All available units please respond to an incident in the city centre, presumed assassination, lead witness and suspect on the run. Any available units please respond."

Bethany tapped her shoulder. "This is Lieutenant Bethany Milton, Officer of the Office of Naval Intelligence, I hear you, I am in the Tricolour station, and shall I pursue, over?"

"ONI?" He said surprised, he paused. "Yes Ma'am, lead witness is said to be running about the area. Please pursue, note that this is a police operation."

"Yes command. I am in pursuit." She said before grabbing her mobile and dialling Matthew. The tones droned, before the click of someone picking up. "Hi, Matt, it is Beth. I need you to run towards the entrance of the Tricolour Metro Station."

Matthew sounded out of breath from all of the running he did from the police. "Hi Beth, how are you, as you can tell I am exercising." He said sarcastically, clearly not enjoying his current situation. "I will see you in a couple of ticks." He said, before hanging up.

With the rifle slung up over her shoulder, Beth rushed by tourists and commuters on their way back to work from lunch look at her in bewilderment. She jumped over the aluminium turntables, much to the bemusement of the security officers. She exited the front of the building and saw a number of people run by, clearly away from the scene of the crime. But what caught her eye was a man covered in blood running up to the station. Their eyes locked. Beth rose up her rifle toward Matthew before shouting. "GET DOWN ON THE GROUND."

Everyone in the Tricolour plaza dropped to the floor in an instant, Matthew on his knees, eyes wide, not quite sure what was going on. In all honesty, Beth didn't know what she was doing either, other than improvising. Police cars and hornets came into view. Beth removed some handcuffs from one of the pockets of her police vest. "I, lieutenant Bethany Milton, service number November Charlie India Sierra One One Five Three, of the Office of Naval Intelligence, here by put Commander James Anders under arrest for crime against the UNSC, with the power and authority as an officer and agent of said rank." She said as she walked up to Matt, she drew her pistol. Looking at him in his eyes, she winked as she continued her acting. "You have the right to remain silent, everything you do and say may be used against you in court."

Now it was Matt's time to act. "Fuck off you fascist whore." He shouted, with 'rage', his cheeks red, either from the running or the businessman's blood. But Beth kicked the man to the ground and grabbed his hands, he struggled, but Beth still clipped them around his wrists, and pulled him up by the scruff of his neck.

Beth kept a cool, calm and collected face as she brought him to a police car. A man stepped out; he wore a captain pin on each epaulette. "Great work there, Lieutenant, but what are you doing? He is under our jurisdiction, he is coming with us."

"I am afraid not sir." Beth said. "I have a ONI jurisdiction, which rules over both Civilian and Military police jurisdiction. And considering ONI issued the warrant against the man, and an ONI agent arrested him. We have full control of the operation. Get an officer and deliver this man to this address; we have a Pelican ready to take him to the deep and dark hole for an Innie like him. If he gets as much as a scratch on him, that officer will be facing the wrath of all of ONI, and so will the commanding officer of the operation. Clear sir?" she said, looking down coldly into his eyes.

"Yes, lieutenant."

Her features softened. "Good to see we are on the same page." She said a little more sweetly. "Now I have an assassin to catch." She said, fiddling with the switch in her pocket. _I guess this is far away enough._ She shrugged as she pressed the switch.

_Bang. Bang. Bang_.

That was all she heard, the three loud explosions as a building collapsed into the street, the moans and groans as collapsing steel as the tall, kilometre high, triumph tower, began to buckle, collapse and fall into the street. The chaos was turning the heads of every person on every street in the CBD, as the billowing storm clouds of dust and debris accelerated towards them. Instinctively, she shouted. "Everybody get down and into cover." She threw open the door and threw in Matthew, before then getting into the front of the Police vehicle.

Sitting in a car that faced towards the non-existent building two of them saw the sudden yellow-grey fog surround the car. They both sat there, looking, staring, and taking in the carnage. The seconds of silence felt like hours, the sunlight filtered out by the fine grains of old building, creating an eerie twilight of demi-light.

"What have I done?" Beth muttered, the question more rhetorical.

"Beth, what the fuck is going on?"

Her eyes began to pool with tears, but they remained open, taking in the almost cinematic pandemonium taking place before them. "What have I done? What have I done?" she began to repeat, her breaths shortening, her hands making their way up to her face, her head more than willing to fall into her palms as she began to weep.

"Bethany, what do you mean, 'What have I done'?" Then it hit him like a ton of bricks; all of what was going around him, all the death and destruction was done by Beth's hand. He put his hands on his face and ran them down so they cupped his nose. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck."

The key was still in the ignition, so Beth turned it, lifted the clutch and began to make her way to the New Paris Charles-de-Gaul Space Port. The tears running down her face, she switched on the sirens and lights as she pulled out away from the station, and up one of the dusty avenues. Emergency response units rushed by, civilian and military units made their way down to the scene of the incident. Matthew looked into the mirror and his eyes locked with Beth's. "Beth, pull over and get me out of these and handcuffs." She simply nodded and they stopped in an empty bus stop, the lights still blaring. She passed him the steel key; he took it and quickly sorted himself out. He turned around back to face his friend, his friend who was currently in the midst of breaking down, she was sniffling, her eyes where irritated, raw and red from the tears. Grabbing her, he wrapped is arms around her and brought her into an embrace. "Sshh, Beth, calm down."

She pulled away a bit. And looked him dead in the eye. "Matthew, look around you." she said, as the people ran as fast as they could out the fog, and into their homes or bars and restaurants to take shelter, whilst the sound of Hornets, Pelicans and Vultures, passed them the other way, search lights beaming down and hoses ready to put out fires. "This is all my doing. I have just killed thousands of innocent people in their own homes, their workplace and their places of leisure."

There was no argument to that. "But did you do it knowingly?" He asked, her shaking head was her reply. "So it is not your fault completely. Ackerson is the one to blame; he said that this would get rid of the evidence. I was at the briefing too, I know this was the case. You thought it would send a clean up team?"

"Yes." She croaked.

"He took advantage of your ignorance to the situation and got you to commit the act. So stop blaming it on yourself, but on that Cunt we call sir." He said.

"Thanks, Matt." She said, slightly happy his reasoning defeated her, she positioned her head into the base of his neck, while he ruffled her short black brown hair as she continued to weep. They slid onto the ground, their backs against the door of the Police car.

"Don't worry, we are going home tomorrow." He said as his hand slid through her hair. "That would be nice. Wouldn't it." He said, his mind drifting. _Home do I really even have one of those in this whole new world? At least the closure would be nice._


	14. Ashes

** MDAM- Yes, I know, I have uploaded a chapter of The Untold Prologue before the chapter of Stargate, but I write better when I write in bulk, for instance, I was still in the mind set to write a new chapter of Halo. But do not fret, I will try and get the Four Elements chapter up as soon as possible. MDAM out.**

C14: Ashes

_**2045 hours, 11 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Mars, New Paris, CBD, Triumph Financial Interplanetary Mars Branch Construction Site**_

Matthew got up and helped Beth up, before they dusted themselves off, without much avail. "Lets get out of here." He coughed, the air was full of the fine silica, which clung to the air and made it very hard to breath. Beth opened the back door of the car and got out her duffle bag in which contained, a spare ONI shirt and trousers. She chucked them to Matt.

He looked to his left and right before slipping out of his trousers and into the baggier ones, Beth giving him the shirt. Again he quickly got out his bloodied shirt and tie and into the clean black ONI one. Beth passed him her holstered pistol, which he began attaching around his thigh, Beth checked the news, seemed all traffic on and off planet was reserved for police and military only. This was a problem because their pelican was classed as a civilian aircraft to lower suspicion.

While Matthew was sorting out the clips, Beth was accessing FLEETCOM on her data pad, and clicked, _UNSC MARTYRDOM_. A window opened and the face of the communication ensign appeared. "Lieutenant? Are you okay? What happened?"

The tear stained eyes looked into the camera. "We are both alive sir, not a scratch. As for what happened, I am sure you can see from space."

"That we can, how can we be of assistance?"

"We need an evac."

"That we can do, we have birds in the air anyway to aid with crisis management and the emergency services. Location?"

"Vert Street."

"Copy that, and… there, Vulture inbound."

_**2358 hours, 11 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Mars, Orbit, UNSC Martyrdom, Observation Deck**_

The two figures stood on the bottom deck of the _Phoenix-Class_ cruiser, along with half the off duty crew, over looking the rust coloured Martian surface; a streak of beige came out of the New Paris central business district where the remains of the Triumph Financial Interplanetary building had collapsed, flattening all the building within a four street radius. The maroon light glowed through the smoke, like embers in black ash, but those fires where still very much alive. A couple of people cried, but most remained silent.

Beth and Matthew looked down through the thick blast-proof glass, not quite sure how to comprehend what was going on. She nudged her friend. "Can we please go." She said, the tears glistening in her eyes, but that dam had no burst, yet.

"Sure." He muttered as they made their way back through the crowd of ensigns, lieutenants and petty officers. They made it to the back of the room and towards the elevator. Beth was wrapped around in her ONI jacket, her black fatigues a where slightly creased and unkempt but most of the staff chose not to argue or bicker. After all she was an irritated six foot seven, heavily muscled, ONI NavSpecWep officer and her six foot six companion, who also had the 'I am having a shit day' look across their face.

They made their way up to their quarters. Because of their ambiguous presence, they where given a room separate from the other lieutenants and ensigns. They opened the door, which then slid open, before then stepping inside. Matt turned on the television, the home system news stations where over the story like flies to horseshit. "This is Hugh Jones, welcome to SBC News at twelve, live from the News Room in London, three hours ago a bomb was detonated in the Triumph Financial Interplanetary Mars Branch building. So far the police are making no comment until they get more information, more in an hour, now to my colleague, Peter Henderson who is on the scene in New Paris with an eyewitness." He said in a Welsh accent, as Matthew sat down on his cot and began to write his report, glancing at the screen from time to time. Beth was sitting over her chest armour with a book and some webbing she had procured from the stores, clearly trying to study it, or simply trying TV let her thoughts dwell on something that wasn't happening on the planets surface.

The program changes to a dust and blood covered civilian with a dust mask over his face, he was wearing baggy clothing with NPWM (New Paris Waste Management) badge on his shoulder. "I was about two hours ago when i-." The feed cut, followed by the clatter as a remote fell to the floor, Matthew turned around to see Beth's knees up to her ears her bare feet on the navy fabric of the wheelie chair. She was sobbing.

Matthew stood up and made his way over to Beth, her equipment cluttering wooden desk. Her arms where wrapped around her legs. Stepping up behind her, he slowly and carefully placed his hands on her shoulders straight and rigidly initially, before relaxing his fingers so they would lightly fold around her collarbone. He kneeled a bit and began to rub he shoulders and put his mouth to her ear. "Sshh, Beth, it is okay." Her sobbing intensified as he spun the chair around to face him and he gripped her shoulders. "Beth, look at me." He asked. She shook her head in response. He gripped a little tighter, glared at her and then spoke with more authority. "Bethany, look at me." This time they made eye contact. "Let the let your walls down."

She bit her lip, and sighed as another tear made its way to her chin. She attempted to relax. "It is all to much to quickly, it was less than two months ago that we were all at home, playing Xbox, reading fiction. Then suddenly I am drafted into some super soldier programme and am expected to shoot to kill, that was just after four weeks." Her voice began to rise. "The latest turn of events have had me become a lapdog for some Fucking Colonel, who gets me, a person who has never once killed a person, to kill and entire militia, assassinate a corrupt businessman and pushed the blame of over four hundred people."

"But last one wasn't you."

"Like hell it is. I pulled the trigger; this is mine to burden as much as Ackerson. Even if I cold convince myself that it wasn't my fault, that guilt will always be there." By this point Beth had uncurled and was standing up to face Matthew. "I don't think I have it in me to go to my parents grave with this much blood on my hands."

She was beginning to get pissed off, but Matthew wasn't going to let it go. His voice had begun to grow to a quite shout. "I will admit, the blood will always stain your hands, and yes this sucks, this incident, the one down planetside, is not your doing, you where the weapon. Guns don't kill, people do. You are the gun."

She started to quiet down. "But that doesn't mean I feel good about it."

"That is a good sign. It shows you are human."

_**1043 hours, 12 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Earth, United Kingdom, Nithsdale City, Dumfries, Nunholm Military Complex **_

The rain drizzled, the grey clouds covering the sky and blocking the sun. To Matthew and Beth, it was perfect and inviting. They stepped out the pelican, knocking on the metal as a nod of thanks to the pilot. They walked of the Titanium-A rampart and onto the Tar-Mac ground, the wind gusting the small spits of rain into their faces, cooling them off after the warm, cramped, twelve-hour pelican flight from Bravo-Six in Sydney.

The two where wearing civilian clothing, both wearing loose fit dark jeans and black boots, but Beth went for a olive drab t-shirt and a chocolate brown light water proof coat over her black soft shell. While Matthew preferred a black t-shirt with an open shirt on top, a black hoodie and a blue soft shell jacket on top.

They walked towards the warthog that was waiting for them, the fuel cell engine turned on, a corporal in a poncho was standing next to the vehicle, clearly not looking amused. He saluted as they approached. "Sir, Ma'am. Please be seated in the back."

"Thank you corporal." They both said as they slid under the green tarp. Looking across the late morning sun attempting to break through the thick cloud cover. The car began to move towards the main building. The car created a fine cool mist as the tyres sprayed the water from the wet surface. The droplets' falling, creating ripples across the large liquid mirror. The trees where bare, black, sentries that kept to the perimeter of the complex.

Finally arriving at the orange-red sandstone house they disembarked the vehicle, giving a wave of thanks as they entered the building. The building was over six hundred years old and was still standing, the two of them still remembering marching past the front door five centuries prior. Entered through the door of the old British Army Reserve centre, pictures of generations of local forces on the wall. They knocked on the door.

"Come In." An English voice sounded. The two entered and stood at ease. The man had a golden oak leaf on his uniform, indicating he was a major. He was of oriental decent, his hair black and eyes brown. He had; old RAF Air Commodore and Wing Commander and Army Lieutenant rank slides, old British Major crowns framed behind him, each frame having a bit of paper explaining some story behind them. There was also a picture of a young black haired woman of oriental decent on the windowsill "You two must be, Ensign Matthew G-001 and second lieutenant Bethany B-312. I will make this brief. Accommodation, transport and money have been sorted by admin. You are to report back here in a week at 0800 hours after repairs are finished on the _Martyrdom_, clear?"

"Monday the 19th of March 2544, 0800 hours." Matthew retorted

"Good man." The major said. "That should be all, here is your initial payment for this week." He placed a brown envelope on the desk. "This contains your credits cards, address and other essentials." He looked back down at his tablet, frowning. "That will be all. Dismissed."

They snapped to attention before Matthew picked up the envelope and followed Bethany out. The Major spoke up before he closed the door. "If you two need a hand, just ask for Major Evan Anders." Matthew glanced back at the frames, and caught the man's eye.

"Thank you sir."


	15. Closure

**MDAM- This chapter is going to be relatively quiet and not very intense, but instead dealing with themes about coming back to a place you where once a part of but now cant fit into, and themes of loss and regret. All the uplifting things that cold be expected too like seeing the graves that belong to you and your friends and family. Also I would like to make an apology to Anzac-A1 who I made my first follower mention in the story for arguably calling you an Australian in the Interrogation chapter. My bad… Mate. MDAM out.**

C15: Closure

_**1107 hours, 12 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Earth, United Kingdom, Nithsdale City, Dumfries District, Central Station**_

They jumped off the hog and began to wander into the city, which once was their hometown in a life they no longer had. The large town they knew three months age had become a sprawling metropolis. The bustling avenues filled with cars, and people they didn't know, their mannerisms out of place, like the tall towering skyscrapers, which flanked them. They felt like imposters, sure they had been in cities before, but this was different. While New Paris had its overhead railways, its impossible space elevators, that was a whole new planet never mind city. The problem with Nithsdale was that it was both familiar in the fact that the weather raining, windy and cold, the people spoke the odd same dialect, and the streets followed the same rough patterns and shapes. But with this familiarity came a level of unease, like walking in a more rundown area of town at night when you would be perfectly comfortable to walk through during the day. The gleaming structures of metal and glass, reflecting the light of the cloud covered sky with a perfect gleam.

The two of them their way from the central station down into what was the 'High Street'. It was a large pedestrianized area with large shops on either side. The street was thrice the size it was before they disappeared, the large business buildings with their logos scribed over the black glass monoliths, ranging from Banks to Media groups. Many queues from the old still remained, some in their original form, and others twisted into an uncanny fusion of both times. The old buildings had be either left in their original form, hilariously nestled between the steel towers, or had been chucked into the architectural blender of time, sandstone and metal, Victorian complexity and modern minimalist.

They entered a small café on one of the offshoot roads of the high street, the aroma of coffee filled the air as the sound of milk being frothed, the grinding of coffee beans and the chatter of the locals of their break. The air was humid from the evaporation of rainwater, but it made the place a little cosier. They selected a coffee, a mocha latte for Matthew and an Americano for Beth, and paid with their credits cards before sitting down at a three-seat table in by the window of the building. They where meeting up with Ross today, he had been shipped off from New Mombasa the week before.

Matthew inhaled his coffee, before taking a drink. Beth was managing to keep herself together fairly well. The day before they where in Bravo-six in Sydney getting debriefed by Ackerson, she managed to keep herself restrained, but she quickly left after the debriefing. That was then when Matthew asked about why Beth blew was not, briefed, on the explosives, in which he replied with. "She is going to do have to do harder decisions than that later in her career as a Spartan where she wont have the benign ignorance that she had back on Mars." He had said. "But its main duty was to bolster recruitment for the military, revenge is a powerful driving force. If anger is channelled correctly, it can be the deciding factor between making and breaking a soldier. It also makes more people want to join as a soldier, so that they can give the innies a thrashing." He said before sighing. "Don't get me wrong Ensign, I didn't enjoy making that order, but when you work with and in the Office of Naval Intelligence for as long as I have, feeling goes on the side lines and results comes beforehand." But he quickly muttered something about 'still having more than Catharine'.

The chime of a bell rang, and in came a five foot ten man. He scanned the room with his Payne blue eyes before locking them with Matthew's peat ones. A smirk began to rise up his tanned face as he noticed Beth. He walked over, unzipping his large brown woollen coat and draped it over the back of the chair as the others stood up. He turned to Beth, and gave her a massive hug. "It is so good to see familiar faces after being alone for over two months. I imagine that we will be talking for a while. Lots of questions and what not." He quickly grabbed a coffee and sat down, his smiled simply due to the fact that here he was with people he actually knew. "So what's new?"

Matthew and Beth looked at him blankly, before Beth asked. "Joke?" He nodded as an answer. Beth looked at Matthew before looking back at Ross. "Well I can't say much with Big Brother breathing down our necks." She said in response, glancing over to the left where a small couple where sitting with their coffees, who where clearly not wanting to make eye contact with Bethany. "I am sure you have a bit of a tale to say. You look a little more tanned than the last time we met, been anywhere?"

He smirked; still not quiet believing that he wasn't the only one in he future. "You know what, I do believe I have. I happened to be in Kenya."

"Kenya? What is that like this time of year?" Matthew asked.

"Warm and humid, like always. Though things seemed to have greatly improved from the last time I was there." He said in a simple manner. "But there is nothing quite like coming home."

"Yeah, things have changed." Beth said slowly finishing her coffee. "Everything seem so much bigger, or maybe that's just me." She finished as Matthew downed the rest of his drink, as the trio stood up and pulled on their jackets. "Shall we discuss this a little later and with a bit more privacy?" She said, looking at back at the couple, the woman typing something on her data-pad.

They made their way out the café and into a newly started cold rain shower. Pulling his hood up over his head, Matthew sighed, "Some things never change." as many others ran into the cover of nearby shops. The three of them made their way down one of the side streets and down onto the riverside avenue looking across the Nith. The once green space on the opposing back was now road and building. The number of major highways now crossing the river, that once held no more than three road bridges, all flowing north to the Skye UNSC shipyards from London. The kept walking to the 'old dock' green area, or as they had known when they where younger as the 'dock park'. Ross stopped in as they made their way past a large concave granite wall.

"Ross?" Beth asked.

"Come here." He said, making a motion towards the wall, the water collecting on the flat surface and reflecting the gold lettering of seventy names. They stood looking at the grey monument, their eyes fixed on a single date. "The 23rd of December, 2014. Welcome to our grave." He muttered.

The monument was split into three sections one central outcrop with the date, a message, and RAF and Army symbols. The two other sections hung a bit back, one had twenty-one names and the other had the names of forty-nine teenagers. The message in the centre read. "Here stands the monument for one of the darkest days in Scottish history, the loss of over twenty military personnel and the kidnapping nearly fifty teenagers was the single largest loss of local life in a single day. Through the unfortunate abduction of the forty-nine named, Police Scotland greatly improved its response and training so a crime like this would ever happen again. The loss of twenty-one local military personnel on a C-130 flying out of Afghanistan had been shot down and lost with all hands. No bodies have been recovered either event."

The two of them just stood their ground, unmoving, the eyes scrolling down the words, until they found their own. The rain continued to fall as it began to seep through and onto their shirts. "I always thought it would be cool being immortalised, but this is not the way I imagined doing it." Matthew said bluntly.

Bethany looked down the list of missing Military personnel before then falling to her knees and crying.

_**1830 hours, 12 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Earth, United Kingdom, Nithsdale City, Dumfries District, Rotchell Apartments **_

The three of them sat in the living area of the apartment. "So what clearance have you been given by ONI?" Beth asked Ross.

"I have been allowed to know jack shit about you Beth, only that you area a mother fucking super soldier. Other than that, I know about half of Matthews file, everything about your current deployment is not accessible, basically everything before you got caught, by our dearest Beth here. To say the least, there is enough black ink on your files that American would invade it if it were oil." He said. "But the weird thing is I can't access medical files, for either of you or myself."

"ONI, what do you expect? Most on that file was likely just a need to know basis anyway. Though it does make sense that mine are locked away. Half of what is in the file is likely to be secret anyway." Beth reasoned.

"Do you have any idea what they are going to do with us?" Matthew asked. "We are all just what might be seen useless when working with a Spartan. Unless we are going to be integrated into the Programme, ONI as spooks or into regular service."


	16. Draft

**MDAM- Sorry for the late chapter, I was out the country in Essen, Germany, attending a wedding. This chapter is a bit rushed, as I want to get it out before I have to start writing the next chapter of Stargate. So enjoy the penultimate chapter in the low down before the main story (Yes the main story hasn't even started) I have planned truly kicks off. I also decided to reference on of my favourite Halo Fan Fictions in this chapter. MDAM out. **

C16: Draft

_**0759 hours, 17 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Earth, United Kingdom, Nithsdale City, Dumfries District, Rotchell Apartments **_

The Rotchell apartments were built upon the top of a hill overlooking the district of Dumfries. The hill had been in the past the home of Matthew, his house situated on the old cul-de-sac road that used to run up here. Perched on the plateaued hill the tall building acted as a lighthouse over the some lesser high-rises that stood up in the early morning mist and low cloud that hid the streets that lay quiet below. The room was large, open and allowed for copious levels of natural light to enter the room in the early spring morning. The white light of the sun had burst into the room an hour earlier but the three bodies that slept in their own separate cots did not stir as the orange light of this Saturdays dawn pierced through the window and illuminated their inanimate bodies.

There was a piercing beeping noise as Beth's alarm signalled that it was time to get up. The pasty white hand reached from the covers and clicked the off button as the other to stirred. She rose from the white sheets with ease. Swinging her legs off the side of the bed, she placed her feet on the cold slate flooring, and slowly raised herself up. She dug through what little clothing she had with her and picked a pair of black running track suit trousers that she brought with her from 2014, and a green standard issue olive drab green t-shirt that had the Bird and Globe emblem of the UNSCDF in black on the left of the shirt. Putting on a pair of running shoes, she decided to go down stairs to the gym; after all she had to keep up with a schedule all recently augmented Spartan must undertake in order to be seen a 'Battle Ready', though she had already been on two assignments.

She filled the kettle and flipped it on. She preferred making her coffee instead of a machine, and had asked for a drinks maker instead of the autonomous one like most households due to 'Force of Habit'. She filled the filter with fresh Arabica coffee from Ethiopia, which was much better than the black tar that they called coffee on Reach, it was a well known fact that the planet just cant grow coffee, even if you drop Earth soil down on it. Grabbing some milk and half a sugar she grabbed her data-pad, scrolling through the news. Mars was still a hot topic, the culprit was detained by the office of naval intelligence, which was true, his name was James Anders, which was sort of true, and it was all an attempt to get revenge at the UNSC for destroying his small Company of Rebels, which was a lie. Naval Intelligence had the news and media wrapped around its little finger. They were using this as an effort to boost recruitment rates for the military by carefully placing propaganda and recruiting information around the newsreels.

Beth looked at the bottom of her coffee cup, the black dregs swirling around in the beige liquid, turning the tasty beverage into what Ross described it 'Satan's Anus', which Beth agreed was a fitting description. Placing the white cup into the dishwasher and grabbed herself a bottle and filled it with water. Grabbing the handle, she grabbed her keys before making out the door. She made down the yellow Sol lit polished marble corridor towards the aluminium steel doors. Pressing the button on the wall, she looked at her reflection in the mirror looking at the surgical scars produced by augmentation that had seemed to have disappeared from her complexion. There was a soft bing sound as the reflection was replaced with a glass window, which over looked the lobby area of the apartment complex.

The doors opened again at the bottom, and she stepped out and down into the gym area. She decided that she would do the treadmill, as it would be the piece of equipment that she would be least likely break with her increased muscle mass, a mass that caught the eye of a few people. She clicked on fifteen kilometres an hour ad proceeded to run.

After half an hour of continuous non-stop running, she finally came to a stop, not because she was exhausted, but because her water bottle had been emptied. Many people seem surprised that she was able to such a feet, and quite a few where intrigued. She stopped at the water cooler, and opened her water bottle. _The next time, I am bringing a water bladder._ She thought, filling the bottle to the brim and taking a deep gulp, taking notice of all the people stealing glances. _Also the next time I am going for a run outside, fewer of the same eyes looking at me. ONI won't be impressed if I begin to draw to many eyes._

_**0859 hours, 17 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Earth, United Kingdom, Nithsdale City, Dumfries District, Rotchell Apartments **_

It was weird for Matthew, for the past couple of nights he had slept a hundred meters above the where he slept over five hundred years ago. He turned in the feather white bed sheets, getting into a more comfortable position, half expecting his mum to push him out of bed and get up and ready for school. But instead it was the beeping of his alarm on his mobile that awoke him. To say the least, it was a surreal experience.

He grabbed the surfboard of a Microsoft phone and pressed the dismiss button, cancelling out the continuous blips. He rolled of the bed and onto his feet, his toes curling on the stone flooring. The smell of freshly cooked food filled the air. He grabbed his old pair of jeans and black t-shirt, and quickly draped it over him before walking barefoot into the kitchen area.

Ross was looking over the electric stove, the filaments glowing red as the eggs boiled and the potato scones fried. Ross was wearing a white t-shirt with the black UNSC insignia on it, and a pair of jeans and grey flat souled shoes. The oven light was also on. "Morning." He said, not looking up from the flats of potato currently frying in the butter.

"How goes it Ross?"

"I am fine, just getting on with breakfast. Sleep well?"

"Yeah." He replied. "Where is Beth?"

"Gym." He snorted. "That is probably going to annoy ONI."

"What with her ability to out run anyone and keep that speed up for over an hour, and that is her outside her armour." He said nonchalantly and with a shrug. "ONI have nothing to be infuriated about, she is a soldier, she needs to keep fit, and it is in her job description more or less."

"But why did they turn her into a Spartan, but not you or me? They saw with Beth that we would be perfect candidates for even the more brutal augmentations that the III's didn't undertake." He said. "She said something about how we are genetically less developed, so our body would be less likely to accept the augmentations, or something along those lines."

"For a start, how do you know what the more brutal augmentations are?" He said before being cut off

"Some ONI chump left his computer logged in in Mombasa, probably thinking I was some peasant medieval kid that wouldn't understand a basic computer. And so given the fact that he was supposed to be looking after me, he had all of my ties to the outside world on file. Including the list of some of my less, respectable, acquaintances that I made in Kenya, to the UNSC's augmentations with the III's. I wouldn't be surprised if they had my favourite coffee flavour and my average breaths per minuet on file somewhere, they seem to have everything on who ever they legally stalk." He continued, putting some of the bacon from the oven onto the pan of potato scones, and grabbed the deep pan with the boiled eggs.

"And this was all on some guys computer?" Matthew said, pouring himself some coffee into a white mug. "That all seems rather convenient. I know that they may think we are a little technologically behind, but ONI aren't know for taking risks such as that. You know they will undoubtedly have this entire complex bugged, and you just revealed your crime to them." He said putting in the milk and sugar and sitting down on the chair with his plate in front of him. He took a sip. "But it is more than likely that they purposely kept that unlocked, for you to look through. If not, I will be expecting a knock in the next minuet or so." He smirked at Ross. "But if this was the case, can I have your bacon."

"HA, funny." Ross replied sarcastically. "Have you heard what they do to people that are loose ends or tongues. They disappear, vanish into thin air, their history vanishes like that." He snapped his fingers. "Which begs me to question. Why are we still alive and not six feet under ground in some mass grave in some backwater planet?"

"ONI may have its reasons to keep us alive, but note that they don't just kill for sport. They are always looking long term." He said swirling his coffee in his mug before taking a sip. "They may have plans for us, they may not. They are hiding something, I know that much. They are doctoring our medical files. I know my blood type is A+ not O+ like it is on my form. I know that because I donated blood, and my file must have been deleted after we all vanished. ONI is hiding something," He turned his head to the ceiling, as if addressing the room. "And you lot now know that I know, but I don't care."

They waited in silence for a couple of seconds before Ross spoke. "Well that was anti-climactic."

"Indeed." Matthew said before digging into his food. He looked over the table and saw a brown folder.

Ross seemed to have noticed his glace. "It is addressed for us. Your eyes only and so on, I thought I would be nice and wait until you got up." Matthew reached over to the paper envelope, and opened it. Out came crisp pieces of paper, the letter UNSC, UEG and ONI where written on the sheets top right corner. He scanned the sheet and sighed. "Matthew?"

"They have begun the third draft of S-III's, Gamma Company, look who are on the top of the list." He said, passing the sheet over to Ross. "Welcome to the Spartan programme Ross-G002, I am Matthew-G001."


	17. Halsey

**MDAM- And here is the final chapter before it truly sets off, and don't worry, shit is going to get really fun and will have more explosions than Michael Bays wet dreams. Anyway, the next chapter will be up in a fortnight. I also came across finding the correct word to use for when you 'shrug', for lack of a better word, your eye brows in a visible way of showing you that you have acknowledged a piece of information or agreeing with a statement, please tell me of some idiom or word for this in a Review or PM. As for now, Adios Amigos. MDAM out.**

C17: Halsey

_**1143 hours, 17 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Earth, United Kingdom, Nithsdale City, Dumfries District, Rotchell Apartments**_

"What do you mean you are becoming Spartans?" Beth said, her expression displaying distress rather than confusion.

"Looks like you won't be the only twenty-first century Spartan anymore. Not like I really want to become one, the augmentations for a start seem a little brutal since we are less genetically advanced. From what I have been given, it says that we will receive a larger dose than the rest of Gamma Company." Matthew said, pouring coffee into three different cups.

"Can you say no to it." Beth argued.

"Technically we can, but remember this is ONI we are talking about, you know, the organisation that would make a magician scratch their heads at with their 'Disappear' magic act. You know 'the now you see him, now you don't' stuff." Ross suggested.

"But you are being turned into weapons without consent." Beth said, running her hands through her short cut hair hair. "I think. It is a lot to take in." Before slumping down on the white couch.

"Think of what it is like from our perspective. Beth, I know you are thoughtful, about others. But their aren't many other options out their for us is there." Matthew took over from the New Zealander, Beth was about to interject, but he started speaking before a word passed her lips. "Plus, we are becoming motherfucking super soldiers. You know, the Hulk like strength, speed of a car, and becoming the ultimate pinnacle of the human race."

"Yes but at what cost. You will become a tool for NAVSPECWEP, you are more or less trading your soul to become this."

"You see Beth, unlike the other Spartans, we are trained to be in social environments. We know how to speak to people, we have real world experience neither the II's or III's have. Ross knows what it is like to live on the streets, like he did in New Mombasa you don't live that long without making connections, especially when you don't have a credits card, he has experience that the ONI needs to fight the insurgency. And speaking about the insurgents, I used to work for them, and some of them worked for me. I still have one or two strings I can pull. And when we couple that with a beefed up body, imagine things we can do on planets like Victoria or Mamore."

"When do you leave?"

"We are hitching a ride to Reach with you on the _Martyrdom_, then we are heading to Currahee on ONI. Then we are going under augmentations as the Spartan III Beta Company are about to be shipped out for something called Torpedo."

"I see." She grabbed her mug and added her milk and sugar. "I guess there is no changing of your minds?"

"No"

"No, ma'am." Said Ross shrugging his brows nonchalantly as he took a swig at his cup of coffee, looking over some construction site down river with an excess of armed guards.

_**0745 hours, 19 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Earth, United Kingdom, Nithsdale City, Dumfries District, **__**Nunholm Military Complex**_

The Warthog arrived at the front of the main of the old reserve building. The trio quickly made their way into the building, and out the cold, wet and windy Monday Morning. They quickly returned the salute to the Corporal who was standing at attention and ready to receive the keys from the three-uniformed ONI officials walking into the dry, central-heated Victorian house. The three of them sat down, in their black uniforms.

Two of them had a single gold bar on their shoulders, and the other had two silver ones. All three officers had the infamous black and white pyramid on their right shoulder; the ensigns had, however, a Greek gamma underneath their ONI patch, whilst the Lieutenant had a Beta under hers. The Lieutenants left shoulder also had a green and blue picture of Reach with a white arrowhead-pointing north it was also flanked by Chevrons with the words Sabre XYSS-1000 Farkas underneath.

The three of them sat down and placed their deployment bags down on the ground between their feet. Beth removed a bottle of water from the front and proceeded to drink it. The room was quiet, and bland. The one bad thing about being a super solider is the fact that you notice every detail. Like the number of times the receptionist has clicked her pen, or the inventive and unique ways you could use any object in the room as a weapon in case things got out of hand.

"The Major will see you now."

"Thank you staff." Beth nodded politely in her direction; she straightened out her trousers and stood up. "Come on ensigns."

"Yes Ma'am." The two responded accordingly. Standing up, they both grabbed both their bags as they made for the office. Stacking them in a pyramid shape Beth grabbed the envelop out hers and proceeded to the door. There where two people talking over something about downtown Nithsdale. She knocked the door.

"Come in." said a female voice. Beth did what she was told and opened the door, inside was the Major sitting with his desk still filled with papers and trinkets. His green army uniform was crisp enough to cut diamonds and his stature was anything but casual or civilian. His guest though was in her early fifties (though she looked about her late thirties with her blonde hair); she was wearing a dark drab olive t-shirt, and a blue hooded jumper and cargo trousers, her hand draped over the back of the chair and her legs crossed. But the dyed hair didn't fool Beth, she knew who this woman was. "Dr Catharine Halsey." The woman said standing up and offered her hand.

"Permission to enter sir?" She saluted.

"Yes, Lieutenant."

Beth took Halsey's hand and shook it, doing her best ONI smile in return. "Lieutenant Bethany Milton, Service Number B-312, ONI NAVSPECWEP, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Beth turned to the Major. "Sir, I am here to return the keys for the apartment and the credits cards, and my next set of orders."

"It's right here Miss Milton." He said passing her a brown envelope. "I do hope you have found your shore leave, enlightening." He turned to Halsey. "And enjoy presenting your findings at the University of Miridem, farewell both of you. I actually have work to do." He said. "Oh and can you send in the other two."

"Yes sir." She said saluting. Before heading out.

"See you soon Evan." She waved following Beth out the door.

Beth turned to face Matthew and Ross. "The major wishes to speak to you both."

"Yes Ma'am" they said. Standing up and entering the door, it closed quietly behind them.

Beth notice Halsey still standing behind her. "How may I be of assistance Doctor?" Beth said, slowly turning around like some sort Bond villain.

"I couldn't help to notice that you seem a bit young to be an officer for Naval Intelligence, or the navy in general." She said.

"I am older than I look ma'am."

"Please, call me Catharine."

"Okay Catharine, would you believe me if I said five hundred years old?"

"No."

"I am twenty-five years old." She lied, she clearly wasn't going to say she was still seventeen and was without a degree. "Four years in Edinburgh University studying xeno-architecture whilst serving at the naval officer training corps."

"You studied xeno-architecture?" she said pleasantly surprised.

"Yes ma'am. Though to be fair most of what I can detail cannot be said without classification forms handy."

"I completely understand. I know ONI red tape pretty well. How did you even get into ONI anyway?"

"I have been in the navy as an officer for three years, six months as a midshipman before a promotion to ensign and moved into the Office of Naval Intelligence, after one year I was promoted to Lieutenant junior grade before promotion six months ago to lieutenant." Another lie. "ONI likes to have a one on hand."

"They have me." Catharine said.

"I am pretty sure they have you doing other things." The door opened behind them. "I need to get to Skye Spaceport. I have a train warrant for the Vac-train heading north, and I have to be at central by ten, so I'll be on my way. It has been a pleasure."

"You are leaving on the _Martyrdom _aren't you?"

"Yes"

"Looks like you aren't getting rid of me so easily."

_**1059 hours, 19 March 2544 (Military Calendar) / Sol, Mars, Orbit, UNSC Martyrdom, Bridge**_

"Welcome on board Ma'am." Said Captain Cutter

"Thank you David. I see you are also acquainted to miss Milton here.

"I am." He tuned to face Beth. "How are you?"

"That I am. How did Mars go?"

"We are about to pick up the firebases, from the surface. Those innies sure as hell did a bad scar on the New Paris. But we humans sure know how to clear up a mess." He said. "So how did two of ONI's Finest come to meet each other?"

"You give me too much credit sir."

"Other than the report saying that you caught the terrorist, before he could set off any more explosives."

"I couldn't prevent one bomb to be set off sir. That is still a failure in my eyes, people died because I didn't get to the suspect in time. As an ONI Agent, I am expected to get decent results. Ackerson may not care if people die to get the desired result, but like most people, including the colonel like to have fewer civilian deaths in the process."

"Indeed, Lieutenant. I never suspected the day that I would see the day that a member of ONI would have a conscious."

"We all have one sir, we just learn to hide it different. Permission to be excused."

"Knock yourself out."

Catherine piped up. "I'll join her."

The two of them left the bridge and made down the large metal corridors. They got to a stretch in the long Phoenix class vessel that was empty, Halsey still following Beth. Suddenly Beth grabbed the good doctor and pinned her against the grey plates and orange pipes. "What is it that you want?"

Halsey composed herself. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you following us?" she said. Halsey's face may not have changed to the normal human eye, but Beth saw the twitch and noticed the involuntary pauses and movements of her thinking of some lie. "And don't spout some bullshit. You where supposed to be on the _UNSC St. Petersburg_ right now, not the _Martyrdom_."

"You have some impressive strength Miss Milton. But I see why ONI hired you. Your physical prowess, sharp perception, the fact that you are always checking facts, and still looking friendly while doing so. You intrigue me though. As a member of ONI myself, I couldn't help but notice that your arrival on Earth corresponds with the subsequent find of some classified materials. In the very city you where staying in. Of course this is why I was called to Earth and Nithsdale."

"But why do you think it was me, there where multiple members of the _Martyrdom_ spending their shore leave in Nithsdale."

"It was your age that struck me off guard. I can read people as well as you can, if not better. I recently got a message of a woman, aged seventeen who had an advanced genetic profile. The description matches yours, the brown hair, and the emerald eyes. Your height is slightly different. So to explain why I am following you and your friends. It is that I am intrigued by you, why would Naval Intelligence keep you alive, or not give you to me?"

Beth let her scruff go. "Because they decided to read the Mortal Dictata for once. Not that you ever did." She finished, before walking off. Her footsteps echoing off the cavernous walls of the ship. But one thought echoed in her mind, one that didn't make sense._ The Colonel has some questions that need answers. _


	18. Sandhurst

**MDAM- This is late, if that isn't a surprise. But at least I got it out. *****Hysterical giddy laughter*****. Anyhow this is going to be the first central arc of the story, though this won't be the most exciting chapter ever written, this arc is going to be AWESOME. As for what happened at the end of the last chapter, I guess I have to do some explanation. The answers that Beth wants to get off Ackerson is about how Halsey slipped out that Beth (and subsequently Matt and Ross) had an ADVANCED genetic coding compared to the rest of mankind even though ONI had expressed that they where genetically RECESSIVE. Hence why Beth needs answers. Halsey didn't find out about Spartan III's until 2552 on Reach. Also, just turned eighteen, woo, Booze. Anyway, to the chapter! MDAM out**

C18: Sandhurst

_**1017 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Stellar orbit, UNSC Martyrdom, Bridge**_

The ship dropped out of slipspace, emerging into the light of the large red dwarf star, its radiance flooding the room in its crimson heat. Beth soaked in the view. It never got old. Beth was twenty-four, but didn't look a day older. _Six bloody years a Spartan._ The she thought remembering it was also six years having David Cutter as her unofficial chauffeur.

"Welcome to UNSC Sandhurst, Miss Milton."

Beth stood at ease; Mjolnir was spook black, even though it had been scratched and clearly damaged, the suit still shone in the low light of the bridge, the large black and white all-seeing pyramid of ONI sitting snuggly on her left breast. Her dark brown hair cut short in typical Spartan style. "The view never gets old, sir. Dropping out of slipspace.

"Haven't I told you that you can call me David?"

"Yes, but 'can' doesn't mean must, and since both us are on duty." She smirked

"Touché" He chuckled.

"I aim to please." She retorted.

"So are you going to tell me what is in ONI's box this time."

"Now, now. You ask me this question every time I hitch a ride on the _Martyrdom_. Have a guess what the answer is?"

"Yes?" He asked Beth just raised an eyebrow. He sighed. "That would be a no then. But considering you have two Spartans guarding it, it must be of value." He moved onto a question. "How are your two pals doing?"

"Matt and Ross are fine. I haven't seen them for years, but when I a on duty with them I am stuck with an irritating captain." She smiled before the communications officer spoke.

"Sir, it is Rear Admiral Henderson of the _Berlin_"

"Patch him through."

The glass screen folded down before activating. The image of a black man in his late fifties appeared, his grey uniform had a star on each collar; his cuffs had a single thick band with another star above it. He had greying medium length black hair, and a salt and pepper beard. His chest was decorated with medal ribbons ranging from the POW, a purple heart.

The man spoke in a Hackney London Accent "Welcome back to Sandhurst Captain."

The Beth and Cutter saluted the screen the Admiral returned it. "A pleasure as always sir."

"And this must be Lieutenant Commander… B-312?"

"I prefer Milton, sir."

"Of course. And is I am not mistaken I believe the spooks at the Office of Naval Intelligence have a new toy for me?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"We do indeed. When shall we commence the hand over?"

"Ah, straight to the point." He smirked. "Twelve hundred hours I believe will be suitable. Where shall I get the crew to load the package?"

"My orders are to deliver it straight to the loading area of your missile delivery system on the Epoch Class Carrier _UNSC Berlin,_ deck G, section 21."

The admiral turned his head around to his communications officer. "Tell G-21 to prep for a classified delivery."

"Yes sir." The officer replied.

Beth spoke. "May I be dismissed Admiral, sir."

"Yes Lieutenant Commander." He said. Bethany saluted, the admiral returning it as she turned about and headed towards the door. She had to walk the entire length of the ship; the secure hold was as far from the bridge as it could possibly be. She would likely run in with the local package delivery team.

It had been six years since she and her two friends had come to the future. She hadn't seen them for most of that time apart from a couple of times they had come to Reach for a debrief or when they talked over Chatter-Net (Waypoint was to well monitored.). Matthew and Ross had been under the watchful eye of Ambrose and Mendez at Currahee for a year, getting basic training, augmentations and beating all previous standards set by pre and post augmented Spartan III's. Beth on the other hand was spending her time after Nithsdale by catching up with her Sabre training before being shipped out for three months later to New Llanelli undergone tough training exercises with the ODST's. After that she was working half the year at Farkas Lake on the Sabre Programme, with lots of success, and the other half spent removing innies off the map.

They were in an odd limbo, they had a childhood and where not a reclusive as the II's and III's, but they had the augmentations of a Spartan. This made them very useful for Naval Intelligence. While the other Spartans would find social interaction and fitting into society a difficult thing to do, the three of them would have a basic understanding and could go to bars and fit in comfortably and not look like the elephant in the room, though they where usually the tallest.

Beth entered elevator and pressed for the cargo hold. This was the first assignment that Matt, Ross and Beth where together, so the package they where transferring must be very important, dangerous or both, they where also here to test out the combat ability of the new Prototype Sabre, the YSS-1000 PASS X, in a live naval combat scenario. The doors opened and in came

UNSC Sandhurst was the largest UNSC facility in existence; it was an entire solar system filled with seven planets, the main planet of Babel housed the main ammunition Depot for Sector Golf, the cities of New Baghdad and Al-Marabish and most importantly the central military facility on the surface of Babel, UNSC Mosel. This was a town sized military complex out side New Mosel with six air bases/ports (Depends on the exercises taking place) two space tethers and a large sea based port. Though the planet may have its cities, only half of the buildings have people living in them. The cities are built, maintained and operated by civilians who, from time to time, are asked to work with the UNSCDF to take part in exercises where civilians are involved for example; fighting in a urban area, planetary evacuations and Insurrection management.

That was the entire purpose of Sandhurst, it was a large training facility for all the forces; air, ground and naval, to simulate the real world by literally building a large sandbox for all ranks to play around in. The system was selected for its system of planets, with three large gas giants, Columbia, Peru and Argent (Named after their colours), further out the system, a rocky planet with no atmosphere near the centre of the system, Umber, a highly volatile planet after that, Cinnabar, followed by the two habitable planets, Babel and Perth.

Babel was a mainly arid and dry planet, though there are more temperate areas towards the poles, due to its proximity to the local red dwarf star. It was surrounded a large fleet of aging vessels, half of which where not manned but controlled by a crew on local MAC Platforms, known as Hubs, controlling the _Berlin_ battle group

Perth was further out than Babel, it had a much cooler atmosphere, similar to earths, it was more a colony that Babel, it acted as the sector shore leave planet. Its mains cities, New Brisbane, Glenfern and Peterborough where much more populated and less militarised than Babel's, however there was still a large military presence present. It too had a large military training facility and citizens where required to take part in exercises. In orbit there were also large Hubs for control over the local _Edinburgh_ battle group

The fleet composed of a large variety of ships.

You had your Alpha Class Vessel, or Capital Class vessel, that being the _UNSC Berlin,_ leader of the Sandhurst fleet and the _Berlin_ battle group, or the _UNSC Edinburgh_ of the _Edinburgh_ battle group, which where large heavy _Epoch Class_ carriers, the reason why they where not in the main fleet was the fact they where the first generation of those vessels and often had faults that needed fixing. Though many of the higher ups say that the constant field repairs teaches the engineer valuable lessens, though the more likely case is that the UNSC wants to spend the money else where.

Secondly you have your Beta Class, these are your battle cruisers, these where all your Halcyon and Anglo class cruisers. The Anglo being the predecessor to the Halcyon, both stupidly as slow and unthreatening for their cost, but both idiotically hard to kill. The Gamma Class vessels are your Destroyers, Frigates and repurposed Civilian mass cargo ships. These being a mix of bridge and Hub controlled. Your Delta class vessels are all of your remaining ships, your civilian transports, freighters and yachts. These are all Hub controlled. Finally the Omega class vessels are all your speciality vessels; think your Prowlers and Shield ships, but also experimental spacecraft too, such as the sabre.

Well that was what the brief had stated when Beth read it; after all she was flying with Matt to see if the sabre held up with a Live Naval Combat Scenario (NCS-L). She placed the helmet on her head, the click and hiss indicating as successful seal around the neck as the doors of the elevator opened. She was standing at ease when three ODST troopers entered. "Well look who we have here, boys." Said one of the troopers. "A little Spartan." He was a sergeant; he had crimson and gunmetal grey armour on with a golden UNSC insignia on his chest with a golden anchor through the globe on his chest. His helmet was off, his cobalt eyes staring into the visor of the Spartan, his hair was a dark brown, buzz cut. His skin was tanned, meaning he must have been out in the field since he didn't have the pasty navy white skin. His name was written on his chest piece, 'Price' it read. He carried a modified M735 LMG 'SAW' with a reflex sight, a large number of tactical attachments. The doors closed.

"Mason." Said his Gunnery Sergeant Foley, his hand on his shoulder. "Remember the last time you tried to challenge someone bigger than yourself." He was about six foot two, an African American with dark, nearly black, brown eyes. His BDU was a grey colour with a digital pattern; he was carrying a custom Battle Rifle with a reflex site and a 40mm grenade launcher. His insignia was a golden star with two crossed DMR's behind it.

The corporal labelled Ramirez sniggered. "Yeah, you nearly got shot by a Jackal." He was carrying a SS99 AM sniper rifle. He was a Latino, black hair and darker skin skin. His BDU was the same colour as his eyes, a Prussian blue, with black and white in a DPM styling.

"It Was A Big Jackal, James." huffed

The Gunnery Sergeant looked over Beth in her Mjolnir armour, noticing the black and white pyramid and the two silver bars on her armour. He quickly came to attention and saluted. "Sorry Lieutenant Commander." Quickly joined by Ramirez.

"Lieutenant Commander?" Mason said to himself before realizing that he just insulted a superior officer. He quickly raised his hand. Beth raised an eyebrow under her helmet, before returning it.

"I take it your are the person we are taking the package from. Since why else would they hire a Spartan to come here."

"Yes." She said the men a bit surprised that a female was talking too. "I take it you just landed. Your team, Gunnery Sergeant is going to follow my teams lead."

"Yes, Ma'am." He said, the doors opening again.

Leading into the secure hold. The four of the came to large black case labelled NOVA, along with two Spartans. Matthew had his helmet off, an eyebrow raised. "Mason?"


	19. Contact Sandhurst

**MDAM- See how I put in the Nova bomb, I am going to have a lot of fun with that, who else loves 1.2 Petaton explosions. I hope you enjoy this chapter, next time thing start to get messy, also, anyone who spots the Easter Egg in this to Halo: Combat Evolved gets a digital cookie. MDAM out.**

C19: Contact Sandhurst

_**1034 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Babylonian orbit, UNSC Martyrdom, Secure Hold**_

"Mason?" Matthew said, an eyebrow raised, holding his custom DMR close to his chest. He was in his ONI black Mjolnir armour, though like Ross's and Beth's, it had custom modifications. Each of them had a nickel ATC Eagle beret badge on the upper right of the chest plate with a circle around it. Beth had got one for Ross's birthday earlier that year and Matthew his today.

"Matt?" Mason said, gobsmacked.

"Sergeant Price, you know this Spartan personally?" Foley asked, little confused.

"Yeah, he along with another feller, Ross. We where deployed five years ago as to do some spook work on New Lima along side my old team. The two of them saved my ass a number of times, but I never knew they where Spartans." He said, still no quiet believing that this was the Matt that he worked with, the Spartans where not known to be very chatty, to get along with marines. Most of the time they were generally self contained people, only ever speaking to other Spartans or when they needed to. He looked the

"Erhm." Ross faked coughed, putting his fist pointlessly to his face.

"Ross?" Ross grabbed his helmet and with a small hiss, the seal broke and his dark brown hair damped down with sweat, his green grey-blue eyes lit up like his smile.

"Ello there, long time no see. Oh and by the way it is Sir, both for me and Matt." He chuckled. Sticking the helmet to his side.

The smile on their faces grew as they stepped forward and greeted the marine, each with a light hug that nearly knocked the wind out of the man. "Where the hell have you been the last two years?"

"Here and there."

"Classified?"

"Classified." Ross confirmed as he and Matthew began to stick their helmets on before readying their weapons. The two of them switched from TEAMCOM to SQUADCOM, their HUD's adding the three others to separate communication channels. "Shall we?"

Beth and Foley inserted her identification card into the back of the automated crate transport and began to move towards the door. The six of them formed a hexagon around the package as they escorted it through the building, a number of people recognising Beth's armour, three distinctive bars on her ODST shoulder pad, two thick black bars with an air force blue core above and below a thinner blue filled black bar. They either gave her a quick wave or salute as they passed by, after all their favourite Spartan was on board. They made it towards the hanger, a number of army security teams keeping an eye as the package made its way inside the pelican.

The doors closed, the sound of the airtight seal forming hissed and ended with a soft clunk. Immediately Matthew and Ross began attaching the carbon fibre strapping around the crates casing and through securing hole before clicking them into the bottom of the hull with industrial clamping. Beth made her way to the front of the ship and began switching the ships systems before plugging in her dumb AI, Alaska. "Alaska, please initiate the pre-flight check procedures."

"Yes, lieutenant commander." It replied as

Beth opened a channel to flight control. "Flight control, this is Pelican Foxtrot Hotel Echo 419, permission to leave terminus?"

"Permission granted. Clearing hanger." The operator stated before the alarms sounded. Beth changed her channel to BATTLECOM while the hanger cleared.

She powered up the engines and proceeded to take of as the large hydraulic doors swung outwards. She pressed the throttle and began to cruise outside and towards the fleet capital ship. "This is Lieutenant Commander Bethany Milton, Service Number Bravo-312 to _UNSC Berlin_. How Copy?"

"This is the _Berlin _to Bravo-312, we copy, how copy?"

"Copy. Asking for boarding permissions. Over."

"Permission granted. Please enter hanger Mike one one, the Admiral will accompany you with his security detail for handover. _Berlin_ out."

_**1040 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Babylonian orbit, UNSC Berlin, Hanger Mike Eleven**_

The pelican landed softly on the pad, its black metallic hatch softly tapping the metal surface as it finished opening. Mason and Ramirez stepped off the ship flaking the entrance, their respective weapons ready for use. Ross and Matthew began to unclip the crate, and Beth and Foley inserted their ID's into the crates mobility unit. The unit began to crawl forward as five individuals made towards them. Three were ODST's acting as a security detail. The one in black UNSCDF Navy working fatigues was the Admiral. His smile was infectious, gleaming at them as they exited the drop ship. But the fifth and most obvious of the bunch was the six foot ten Spartan two, the numbers 014 on her left breast.

Beth shouted. "Admiral on deck!" and everyone came to attention and saluted the officer as he approached.

"Ease." He said. The entire contingent stood at ease. "I see that Naval Intelligence have a new toy for me."

"Indeed sir. She is all yours if you sign these forms for us." She said, as she lifted her helmet off and mag-clipping it to her side. She grabbed a pen and the official documents out of her hip TAC-HARDCASE and activating the foldable clipboard before handing to the Admiral.

He began to speak while scribbling off the form. "This must be very secret if they send three Spartans to keep it safe. I wonder what fun this is going to be?" He said in a manner similar to a child getting a toy. He passed the form back to Beth who looked it over.

"This all checks out." She said. "Permission to stay on board whilst the Air Force transfer over the Operation: Bluetooth hardware."

"Granted, make yourself at home." He said.

_**1050 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), UNSC Patrick Deep Space Telemetry Station, Central Nerve Centre**_

Gabriella Tung hated her job. I mean really hated it. She had no idea who she had pissed off to land herself on this ice ball they called Azure, the third moon orbiting the planet Argent. There was nothing here but a glorified slipspace relay that communed with the local star systems, stellar telemetry probes and the Earth communication uplink.

She was of Asian decent, this could be see with her untidy black hair and her, near gold, hazel eyes. She wore basic Air Force honeydew green jumpsuit, zipped up and with an old black ONI jacket that she had taken with her from her old job. Once she was a lieutenant commander, slipping under the radar of Innies, gathering Intel, and assassinating key targets. Those where the good old days; now she was the Major in the Air Force, the most forgotten force in the entire UNSCDF, and sat most of her days in front of a computer screen, along side the five others on this god forsaken ice ball, looking for pings on her screen.

The most exciting thing to happen was a small fraction of reflected pulsar radiation causing small, insignificant; blips appear on screen for a second before going away again. And she knew exactly where that radiation came from, what system it bounced off of and all the existing information of the reflection system, from colonisation reports to mining rights, and the pulsar system, be that its over complicated serial number or its pulse frequency. It was kind of sad. But not as sad as wishing that a piece of equipment on the outside broke down, so you could walk on the outside to repair it.

Whenever there wasn't a snowstorm, everyone liked to walk outside onto the surface. The large flats of snow covered surface, filled with small quantities of cobalt aluminate that gave the surface a pale blue hue that reflected the sun in a beautiful sheen. The large three hundred meter wide radio telescope dishes that followed the infinitesimal points in the sky, silhouetted by the dark shadow of the snowfall. The moon had a thin atmosphere that helped to block stellar radiation, but the planets strong magnetic field helped even more, and as a side effect created some of the most spectacular shows in the system.

A few years ago, Gabriella was repairing a faulty optical wire about three hours pelican ride from the base. She was caught in a snowstorm as during a time of peak stellar activity. She hid inside her drop ship for two days before emerging back onto the surface and was greeted by the most spectacular view. The mass levels of Aurora waltzed across the sky like a skilled pair of dancers, and met by the late summer sunrise across the icy plane. She kept a picture of the shattered glass like sky, pierced by the strong sunlight over the silver white gas giant's equator on her cluttered desk as she looked over the latest telemetry predication.

She sipped the hot coffee in her hand; it was fresh local stuff, straight from the surface of Perth. She sat back on her seat as she pressed enter for the scan authorisation of sector X-Ray-3456 Yankee-4534 Zulu-4324. Pushing her seat back, she came up next to Lieutenant Josephine Meyer. "Still wearing that ugly jacket, ma'am."

"Shut up Laura. It is cosy, and it gives me hope that they take me out this facility."

"I am just saying." The Lieutenant said, moving her longer than regulation ginger hair out from in front of her dark grey eyes to behind her ears. She was wearing a similar jumpsuit but hers was the had the surface utility webbing, protective plating and heavy-duty boots on, her ID tag hanging off her side, the only thing missing was the pilot variant helmet and the sub-zero gloves. She had clearly been out fixing the systems earlier on. "So shall we see what is going on in this sector?" She mumbled to herself as she booted up the repaired system. "So when is Pierre, Lee, Mark and Janet, supposed to be down here again?"

"Three quarters of an hour ago, those SOB's." Gabrielle gritted. If one thing pissed her off more than anything, it would be the people who are slacking off work." She stormed upstairs into the mess and rec room where the four of them where eating their breakfast, large pre-packed English style breakfasts. It made her mouth water just from the site. She snapped out of her semi trance. "Why are you not at your stations?"

Pierre, a large black man of Madagascan decent, he spoke deeply. "Well since it was the win…"

Josephine's shouting cut him off. "Everyone Down Here, Now!"

The five of them slid down the metal stairwell. And looked over the lieutenants shoulder. "Well shit." She muttered.

_**1058 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Babylonian orbit, UNSC Berlin, Bridge**_

"No, No, No, this can't be right. Shit." The communication officer said, very loudly. As he looked over the outer system telemetry report from Patrick Station, the report was small, very, very small. The one word report struck a great deal of fear in the officer's heart, his hands where trembling, his mouth twitching.

"What is it Lieutenant?" the Admiral said, clearly not impressed by the officers use of language on duty.

The mans throat was tight, his eyes showed a stark fear. He licked his lips and read the short report. "A report received from the station on Argent III, as of 1057 hours on the 30th of September 2550 reads as follows, 'Covenant', I repeat the report, 'Covenant'.

A cup of coffee was dropped but nobody noticed the brown liquid trickle out the lip of the blue cup. Nor did care anyone notice the tears dripping down the cheeks off officers, NCO's or cadets alike. The gaping mouths, the navy personnel paralysed in shock. All the people listening to the radio, television and waypoint as the Admiral initiated the System Public Address System, be that at home, work in the subway or on the large advert screens in the centres of New Baghdad, Al-Marabish, New Brisbane, Peterborough, Glenfern, suddenly heard a ping as the spinning logo of the UNSCDF replaced water ever News programme or soap opera they had been watching. He opened a file on his computer, the Standard Cole Protocol Address. The Admiral cleared his throat at stared right into the camera.

"This is Rear Admiral Henderson of UNSC Multirole Training Facility _Sandhurst _and _Edinburgh _and _Berlin_ Battle groups to all military and civilian occupants of the Sandhurst System, we are on full alert. As of now Contact Sandhurst is in operation. All training schedules are cleared; all prototype weapons, vehicles and other equipment are declassified for use. All military personnel, Alpha through Sierra, are to assemble at their closest rally points. All ships are to form up, ready for defence in their sectors and further orders. All training rounds are to be replaced with live rounds. Civilians may be drafted, civilians are allowed to bare arms, all militia trainees are now conscribed. We are under attack by Covenant forces; I repeat we are under attack by Covenant forces. May god have mercy on our souls. Rear Admiral Henderson out."


	20. Ashley-014

**MDAM- Just for the record would just like to say that I imagine The Admiral to look ever so slightly like an older Idris Elba (don't ask why, I don't know either), It kind of just came to mind that this Admiral will be a badass. MDAM out**

C20: Ashley-014

_**/:Start_Transmission:/**_

_GN: Date Sixth of November 2549. NavWepSpec Report NWS-S-2015-20. Officer conducting interview is Lieutenant Commander Gregory Neilson. Beginning interview. Name and service number?_

_A014: Senior Petty officer Ashley Spartan-014, Service number, ORN-002-S-014._

_GN: Spartan team._

_A014: White._

_GN: Do you know why you are here?_

_A014: I imagine it is to do with my previous mission, how I am the only remaining Spartan of Fireteam White._

_GN: No, you have already been debriefed. This is about your reassignment._

_A014: Reassignment?_

_GN: In Six months, you are going to be moved to UNSC Sandhurst._

_A014: So this is about me being unable to be an effective soldier out on the field. I fucking knew it Greg, I thought you where my handler._

_GN: I am, think of this a holiday._

_A014: __*Bang* __I don't need a holiday. I need work, throw me at a Covie ship for all I care, I don't want to sit around doing nothing while my brothers and sisters are risking their lives._

_GN: *Sigh* I worded that wrong, you will be providing help to the war effort, just you will be acting as an NCO instructor aiding with Planetary Evacuation Scenarios. I know what this sounds like._

_A014: *Screech, pacing feet before a loud clatter* Damn right I know what this sounds like! This is about bloody Apex. They are saying that I am going to use my expertise in PES; the one I lost my whole team on mind you, instead of this is actually an exercise for you because you are a failure and this is how you do it properly._

_GN: I am sorry._

_A014: It is okay Greg, it isn't your decision, and clearly I am still bothered by it. I guess that I can face a Covie fleet I can face this, it is only…_

_GN: Five months._

_A014: Five months, then I am back on the pounce. I will have a reputation to uphold as the deadliest Spartan, the last thing I need is for John to beat my current confirmed kills. I take it you want a souvenir?_

_GN: Damn fucking straight I do, preferably a keying or a fridge magnet._

_**/:End_Transmission:/**_

_**1105 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Babylonian orbit, UNSC Berlin, Hanger Mike Twelve**_

"Sabre two, you have permission to land."

"Copy that _Berlin_ Hotel Golf November Mike One Two." Repeated the pilot as he slowly entered the hanger. The he landed beside Sabres one and two as the large airlock door swung down and seal up for repressurisation. The man opened the cockpit, and jumped out onto the landing pad. His golden pilot style helmet shone in the artificial light. His flight suit was a black UNSC Black Body Vac-Suit with some minor alterations of added armour, padding and cosmetics, most the most notable being the three thick RAF officer style stripes on his left shoulder, similar to Beth, Matt and Ross.

Beth walked up in her Mjolnir and saluted her CO. "Morning sir."

"Morning Miss Milton. I see you are all suited up for action already." He said in a thick Canadian accent.

"I wish this was over better circumstances, sir." She said depolarizing her visor, lit up eyes shining out from behind the protective glass of her commando style helmet. "I will be jumping ship in a minuet or so, just thought I pop in and say good luck out there. Mind you, this is the Lieutenant Colonel Connell Dewitt Masters I am talking to."

He cleared his golden visor, revealing his toothy white smile, his brown eyes and dark skin. "I'll take it any day of the week." He gleamed. "I will just make sure that Captain Loggers doesn't…"

"Be a cocky bastard and attempt to impress the Covies with aerobatics." They began walking to the upper starboard runway deck. "Do keep him on a tight lead, and please remind everyone that this is not a drill but the real thing. They will die if they fuck up, and will survive if they do everything correctly."

"I see. Will do." He agreed, before getting a little giddy. "Aw, look at my big Bethy all grown up, I remember when you arrived at Farkas Lake as a tinny tiny Ensign…"

"I was Six foot nine and you are still six foot one, and you where a Major. You where the small one and still are." She retorted as she opened the elevator doors. Pressing the button up.

"But now she is going to battle like a big girl in her fancy Mew Mew armour…"

"Mjolnir." Beth sighed, putting her hand to her face in a face palm manner.

"Mew Mew." He said as if she didn't say anything. Beth groaned; it was like she was talking to her father or something. "And she is going to kick bug eyed monsters for the UNSC Navy."

"I would have joined as a Air Force officer, but you know ONI, once you are caught in their web, there is no getting out." She sighed. "You know, I have from a young age wanted to be a 'brill cream boy' as the other forces call you."

"Instead you became a Puddle Pirate Super Soldier Spook Pilot." He said before chuckling. "You should get that on a mug or T-shirt." He said, the doors opening to a long windowed corridor with a multitude of airlocks connecting to the large one and a half kilometre long hanger runway. The main airlocks where closed because the Runway was depressurised for immediate pelican, long and short sword aircraft scrambling, though the main airlock doors where still closed on standby.

The two of them entered the airlock, the inner door sliding shut and sealing with a clank and hiss. "I never thought that a delivery run would have me begin my first contact with the Covies." She said as the air slowly was being sucked away through the high-pressure suction vents. The outer doors opened, and the two began walking again. "Any tips?"

"A Grunt of Jackal are easy to deal with, a headshot with a standard DMR, Battle Rifle, hell even a Magnum Pistol round, should off them quickly." He said. "Jackals can be funny buggers with their shields, a shot to the hand would make most things lose their guard, then take the pop shot."

"Don't underestimate the pistol. They can be a little over the top with the power they have behind them."

"True. As for Elites and Brutes, drop their shields with an Assault Rifle or grenade, and then shoot with your sidearm in the chest or head. Finally the Hunters, well like my father once said 'when in doubt, use high explosives', this, Beth, is one of those moments; Jackhammer, Grenades, and if you in a rush, why not some C12."

"Your father was a wise man. How did he get that mentality?" She said, jumping onto the tram.

"Army Corps of Combat Engineers." He said bluntly. "They love their C12, and don't use it sparingly either." The vehicle began moving down to Section Bravo. "So, what is your job today?"

"A few minuets ago I was ordered by the Admiral to lead a Spartan fireteam to extract UNSC personnel from UNSC Patrick before collecting sensitive information, or destroying it and all relative equipment as per the Cole Protocol."

"Sounds fun." He smiled, as they reached the Pelican. "Say hi to Matt and Ross for me." He said standing before the stern hatch of the drop ship. Its ablative-coated hull had a blue and grey camouflage paint job, it was the same pelican used for personnel transfers and supply droops onto Azures _Patrick _Station.

"Will do sir. And again good luck." She said saluting. The hatch closed on her as she dropped her hand and turned around to her team who where sorting out their weapons. Their modified DMR's and Battle Rifles with increased magazine size, long-range thermal optics and a number of smaller attachments. Matt along with his BR had a shotgun and Ross a SAW. Beth kept the same low grade BR35HB Battle Rifle that she had used on Mars; it had allsorts attached to it, ranging from the 40mm grenade launcher, a new thermal scope, torch, an emergency fully automatic assault mode and a bayonet. Most people laugh when they see the knife at the front of the rifle, but the number of times she had used it in OPERATION: CATAPULT, (a less financed version of TREBUCHET, to tackle war time insurgencies) was unquestionably useful.

She made to the front cockpit where Ashley-014 was seated. She rose up and saluted Beth. "Ma'am" Her weapons mag-locked to the hull.

"Stand down Spartan, call me Beth if that is more comforting, because I am sure as hell am not going to call you Senior Petty officer all the time, I will be calling you Ash, or Ashley. Okay?"

"Yes ma… Beth."

Beth tapped he on the shoulder. "See you are already getting there." She smiled. "Shall we?"

_**1143 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Bable, New Baghdad, Baghdad UNSC Air Force Base/Intercontinental Airport/Space Port, Briefing Room**_

"Okay people, it is under the hour and you are already suited up and ready. Good job, if we keep ahead of schedule then we will have a large number of civvies Earth bound. The Covies are expected in the inner system by 1300 hours as they are still doing an outer system recon." The Colonel said to everyone in the auditorium. "We need you as crowd control, the last thing we need is a repeat of what happened just under a year ago on Apex." A hand went up, it was a Major with blonde hair. "Yes Major Wells?"

"What happened on Apex?"

"A riot broke out, people trampling over one another to get on board transports. It was so bad that three of the four Spartans on the planet went missing in action after they gave up their Pelican piloting skill for Civvies, one of the four Pelicans managed to the board a UNSC vessel, the other four have not been heard from after boarding a Civilian transport. Does that answer your question?" She nodded. "We will not repeat this, after all, this is why your are training here." You will all be assigned to specific areas with your fireteams are going to direct and control the flow of traffic to the Pelicans. All clear?"

"Yes, sir." Everyone shouted.

"Good, dismissed. Major, could you please stay behind." He said as everyone stood up and began making their way down and out to the armoury. Major Wells walked up to the podium and stood at ease at the front. "Miss Wells, fireteam Cascade Survivor will aid you in the extraction or destruction of the Colonial AI superintendent." He said handing her a document. "If they get access to that information, we are in deep shit, this is why Apex was so messy. The civvies where stuck in a city under the control of an enemy AI, so that means no public transport, no civilian air craft, lots and lots of locked doors, bunkers not being vented of carbon dioxide and more that I don't want to get into."

"I see." She said flicking through the documentation. "So when does the mission start?"

"Right Now Major. An ONI operative is briefing your team at the moment, we expect good things from your team." He said. "There is a Pelican waiting on landing Pad Delta Nine. Get your equipment and go, good luck and don't die. Dismissed." She turned around walked to the door, but once at the frame, she stopped and smiled.

"We have survived with lower odds sir." She said before she began down the hall.


	21. Frost

**MDAM- Let the fun begin. As a way to help visualise the surface of azure, imagine a blue Antarctica with big ass dishes from the Halo 3 Map: Standoff.**

C21: Frost

_**1115 hours (30 Minuets until Martyrdom Departure), 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), Low orbit, UNSC Pelican Codename Buenos Aires**_

The Pelican shuddered as it entered the atmosphere. The four Spartans braced as they entered the storm system above Patrick Station. _Of all the times we need to extract people, it has to happen in the middle of goddamned snowstorm. _Beth thought to herself as the thick bottom hull of the ship held against the harsh heat and pressure as it pieced the upper layers of the Azurian Sky. They came in hard and fast, with a deceleration of over ten G's, enough to make a normal man pass out, but totally fine for the Spartans and the Pelican.

They had thirty minuets until the _Martyrdom_ had to jump back into the fleet to prep for Covenant assault. That meant they had to get down to the surface, get all the data they could grab, get as many of the base staff on the pelican alive, arm the nukes and get out of dodge before there was nothing less than an irradiated landscape. They had to do all of this with the possibility that there may be a large number of forward operating Covie soldiers on the ground setting up a foothold.

The ship levelled out as it reached a stable height over the landscape, the large telemetry dishes marking the landscape, extruded into the sky, scanning the heavens, looking for anything, from slipspace disturbances to supernovae. Azure was the perfect candidate for the telemetry station; cold temperatures helped keep computers cool, energy was supplied from the geothermal heat of gravitational pulling of Argents other moons as well as the gas giant itself, also the magnetic disturbances in the atmosphere helped prevent detection from as close as interplanetary space.

Ashley spoke. "Ma'am…"

"Beth." Bethany interrupted.

"Sorry, Beth, but I am picking up covenant signalling and energy signatures on the ground."

"Copy that, what is the likelihood of them spotting us?"

"With the blizzard and ablative coating to our advantage, highly unlikely."

"Great." She said before addressing Matt and Ross. "We will be landing in a matter of minuets lads, prep for landing." She tuned back to Ash. "Could you ping Patrick Station."

"Sure, Ma'..." She was about to call her Ma'am again. _This is going to be a pain in the ass._ She thought as she began flicking through the radio channels. She flicked the A-Band High Encryption code to ping for access. The long numerical passcode translated itself and sent itself for confirmation. The good thing about a telemetry planet is that there is such a large amount of radio traffic that the ping could have been sent on the E-Band, and still not be picked up by Covenant wire tapping software. Ash waited a second before there was a reply that read. _Copy, opening landing hatch bravo-echo, compressing data package_. "We are in the green."

"Copy that. Pass along navigation data." She asked, Ash uploaded it, and began their final descent into Patrick Station.

_**1121 hours (24 Minuets until Martyrdom Departure) , 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), Low orbit, UNSC Patrick Deep Space Telemetry Station, Central Nerve Centre**_

Janet Kahn replied to the Aires Pelican. "Looks you are getting your wish after all Major."

Gabriella turned to face the tall Arab woman. "How can you be so sure?"

"We have a Spartan Fireteam inbound just for us." She said, setting up her part of the selection and compression process. "Mark, what is the pattern identifier progress?"

"Two minuets until completion." The Mark Botha said in his thick South African accent. "I would imagine our extraction team would be in by that point."

Pierre walked into the room; he like everyone else was wearing their EVA suit on, though his had larger metal plating. He had a large, tan, UNSC issue, one hundred-litre deployment bag on his back. He walked up to the centre on the room and placed it on the last piece of empty table they had left. As the chief of security, only himself and the Major had access to the weapons locker, and though they did have a firing range, the firearms where rarely taken out unless it was to be serviced. "We have security breeches on some of the ground levels, I imagine the Spartan fireteam is going to have some fun getting to us on Basement level fourteen He unzipped the bag and began to take out their battle rifles. They were older, BR35HB's rather than the standard BR45HB's variants. He placed one fully loaded magazine in the slot and made sure the safety was off, before throwing them to the respective members of his team. "Major, Jo, Mark, Janet, and Lee."

"Danke." Josephine said, chambering a round before putting the sling around her helmeted head, she typed in her password as the second in command and put in her key. "Major, Sergeant, I have set up Cole Protocol Article fourteen, planet wide hardware decommissioning. Timer twenty minuets, awaiting key activation."

Pierre grabbed his key chain and walked up to the computer terminal as he attached his rifle to his back mag plate. Gabrielle did likewise the rifle hanging of its strap. The two of them punched in their codes and inserted their keys. The Major spoke. "On my mark. Three, two, one mark." The three of them turned their keys. And much to the dismay of Lee, unlike the movies, nothing changed but their wrist mounted data pads showed a timer. _What, no spinning emergency red lights? No ominous voice saying "Twenty minutes to evacuate the facility", or massive loud blaring sirens? Why do they always make it seem more exciting in the movies than in real life?_ Lee inwardly sighed as he sent the _Martyrdom_ a situation report.

_**1123 hours (22 Minuets until Martyrdom Departure, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), Low orbit, UNSC Patrick Deep Space Telemetry Station, Landing Hatch Bravo Echo**_

The hatch of the Pelican opened and the four heavily armed Spartans walked out onto the silver and orange platform. They formed up back to back in a small diamond formation before breaking off. The four of them began to make their way down the stairs towards the main engineering deck; the other pelican was currently sitting quietly in solitude on the Alpha-Echo landing pad. Matthew slid down and began typing in and activating the internal communications system. There was a blip and the screen activated.

"Spartan Fireteam White is on the ground ma'am. What is the situation?"

"Nukes are armed, data compilation and compression complete, armed and about to get on the move." The major said, her head hidden behind the polarised helmet cover. "The system shows that you are still on the Level-5 engineering deck."

"The schematics show that the nerve centre is on B-14, where shall we meet?"

"Ground floor, section Echo. Note, some covenant forces have made their way into the middle levels, so expect resistance." They said before they signed off.

"Lets make this quick, we have under twenty minuets to get back to the _Martyrdom_." Beth said. "Given the current situation I don't want to be on this rock longer hand is needed."

The four began to make their way down the long corridor to the central stairwell and began to make their way down; they couldn't risk using the elevator since the Covenant could cut the power at any time. Ash took point, with her shotgun. _So far so good_. She thought.

The Spartans had set their sensors to their maximum sensitivity. If they stopped, they could have likely heard the conversation between two bickering Grunts on the bottom floor of the facility. They made it down to the first floor without any problems. Ash put her hand up. The team stopped on the second floor and glanced at their motion sensors, a large number of red dots showed up beneath them. The team double-checked their weapons silently. Ross grabbed two of his Multi-Ex stun grenades and received a go ahead nod from Beth as every one turned their sensors down to a lower level. He nodded his head once, twice, thrice, before dropping the grenades down the hole.

The grenades exploded, stunning the Covenant forces with a series of deafening bangs and blinding flashes in quick succession. The Ash and Ross began to descend of the stairs, riddling and penetrating the shields, armour and flesh of anything that go in their way with their shotgun and SAW. Matthew and Beth jumped over the railing, using their vector packs to land on two very unlucky Elites. Plunged her knife deep into the skull of the elite, ripping it out again and throwing it at a Grunt with enough force that it knocked the creature back into the wall before she swung her arm back and crushed her arm against the face of a still dazed Jackal. Matthew had just used his tonnage to crush the Elite with his sheer amount of momentum. He used lifted up his Battle Rifle, set on automatic, and began to spray down everything that wasn't in ONI armour, getting three headshots on Grunts in a matter of seconds. Before jumping head first into the abdomen of an Elite, who was attempting to raise his Covenant Carbine, tackling him down to the ground, green bolts spraying the metal staircase. Matthew reached for his knife and stabbed it into the Elites jugular as it made a pitiful attempt of a final scream.

Ross emptied his SAW into a brute to drop its shielding, before using his augmented strength to break its neck. Ash ran and jumped into the chest of a Brute Chieftain; knocking him to the floor, before ramming her heal into its throat, crushing its windpipe. Ross spun around and kicked an unfortunate Grunt in the methane tank, causing the small creature to fire off into the bottom of the staircase, crushing its head in the process. He grabbed the top of a jackals shield and pulled it around, Ash fired a shell into the poor birds torso, turning it into a bloody mess. Ross picked up a spare plasma grenade, activating it before feeding it to an unfortunate Elite who was stupid enough to leave its shields off. The there was a flash of blue before the wall was covered in Byzantium purple blood.

By this point the Covenant forces had a chance to ready their weapons, though most of them were still dazed by the Multi-Ex flash bang. A few green, pink and blue shots were let off, none hit their intended targets. Ashley just kept on firing and chambering her rounds. Watching as each an every one of her enemies fell to her. Her eyes lit up in an unquenched blood lust. _Robert, Jennifer, Patrick. _She kept on repeating those words in the back of her mind; they would get their vengeance by her hand. The two of them met up with Matthew and Beth at the bottom of the stairwell. They did a quick check of their weapons before heading down the corridor.

_**1127 hours (18 Minuets until Martyrdom Departure, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), Low orbit, UNSC Patrick Deep Space Telemetry Station, Ground Floor, section Echo**_

"Shit, Covenant." The major said looking around the corner. They were still over a hundred meters from the nearest stair well. The designers made this place hard to get to, but a sad side effect is that it worked both ways with long corridors to set up barricades, side alcoves for cover, and emergency area segregation protocols (massive blast doors that prevented the access to sensitive areas). Josephine carried the data core on her back, the massive vacuum tube that contained the condensed sum knowledge of this entire facility's reason for existence, knowledge not allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy.

Lee looked at the rifle in his hands and sighed. Sure he knew how to fire one with proficiency and skill, all members of the armed forces knew how. But his profession was research and development, not killing. The Major on the other hand was in her zone; this was her area of expertise. Lee had seen her profile, public assassinations of URF leaders, deploying recon drones behind covenant drones, training colonial militia, she had done it all. And for some reason she was stuck on this ice ball of a moon doing telemetry. Either something was very important and needed protection on the planet or she had fucked someone over badly but still needed her just in case.

She grabbed a grenade from her belt. "Frag out." She said. Then all hell broke loose


	22. Atomic Winter

**MDAM- I have put my other story on hiatus due to writers block, so I have decided that I shall upload a new chapter to this story every week instead. So expect lots of semi decent content from all the time. MDAM out. o_o7**

C22: Nuclear Winter

_**1128 hours (17 Minuets until Martyrdom Departure, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), UNSC Patrick Deep Space Telemetry Station, Ground Floor, section Echo**_

"Frag out." The Major lobbed a grenade at the feet of the unsuspecting Brute. The grenade exploded before the creature had time to react as the Major and Pierre strafed the Covenant forces, taking down the stunned Grunts and Jackals. The Josephine walked out with and joined with Mark while Lee just fumbled around with the rifle, not quite sure if he should just follow, or join the fight. _I don't use guns I am a scientist._ He thought as he followed he clumsily dived into an alcove.

The Major, fired into the hand of a Jackal that was readying his shield, causing it to squawk in pain. Turned the Jackal around and proceeded to fire through its still living body. Using it as a meat shield as its comrades tried to fire at her, the plasma melting the birds torso, but the bullets penetrated the body and hit the Covenant forces, killing or hurting them. She kicked the bird into an Elite, knocking him back slightly, giving the major enough time to stab the Elite in the chest.

Pierre set his rifle to full automatic, spraying the unshielded enemies. A shot grazed his side melting some of the metal plating, leaving a green, orange and red fading glow. He quickly turned to the source of a carbine wielding Elite, who kept firing at him, but was cut sort as Jo fired her rifle taking him down. A couple he felt burning at his side, but the adrenaline numbed the pain. One there was a plasma grenade; he picked it up and threw it as far as he could. He holstered his rifle and took out his pistol, taking pot shots at grunts, a needle grazing his forearm. "_Merde!_" He shouted.

Jo and Mark where clearing up, as Lee kept low in an attempt to keep out of any Covenant targeting reticule. Jo were giving covering fire to Pierre and the Major, who were taking the brunt of the fire, though the Major had picked up a Jackal shield by shooting off the arm of a dead chicken and picking it up, hand still attached, her side arm firing forward. They had lost the element of surprise, by now the Covenant had set up their barricade and bubble shields. They moved into a side corridor that led to one of the material stores. The Major slid her key card into the slot, causing the doors to slide open and reveal the large rows upon rows of Titanium-A, optical wiring, electronic components and other things that a person needs when they repair a moon sized station.

They ran in, the Major switching off the lights behind a security card and number. Their helmets automatically switched on VISR as an adjustment to the new darkness. They had to cross this storage section to get to the main staircase. They ran deep into the large hall. The group saw a pair of elites, their suit lights scanning and looking over the area for them. The group quickly dived into an aisle to avoid them. The Major looked to her left to her team, and put a finger to her polarised helmet where her mouth would be. They all exchanged their rifles for a handgun, as it was easier to sneak with. They checked their corners and moved around each of the wall like shelves.

The team stepped around the shelf, half on one side and half on the other, Pierre and the Major taking the front, the rest filing behind them. They looked about, searching for the lights of scouring Covenant troops. They slid into an aisle as Pierre alerted them to the passing of a patrol. The crew snuck underneath the shelf for better hiding, handguns ready for firing. They kept a low and under the radar, waiting for the phosphoric light to pass. But instead it stopped and concentrated on a spot on the floor. The Major readied her self, both he knife in hand and pistol holstered but unclipped.

She looked down and saw a blood trail which led to Pierre's side. Which wasn't a surprise, he had taken quite a beating. He was going to lead any Covenant forces to them. She spoke on her radio. "Two Elites, begin take down on my mark."

"Copy that. Ma'am." Pierre said. "On your mark."

"Three, two, one. Mark." She said, pulling herself from under the shelf and into the legs of the Elite, and silently plunging her knife deep into he throat of the beast. She then quickly guttered the blade to her right, cutting around the spine before letting the beast fall to the ground. "We don't have time to be quiet, lets run and Get The Fuck Out!"

"Yes ma'am." They said, as they began to sprint. The loud clatter of their boots carried and alerted enemy forces, but they didn't have time to deal with them, there was a nuclear detonation in twelve minuets. The Jo ran ahead and opened the door to surprised Brute, who turned around; only to meet the sprint double foot dropkick of an adrenaline fuelled New Antananarivo UNSCAF Security officer, which has enough momentum to breakdown the shields.

Pierre landed on his feet, on top of the Brute, finishing it off with a bullet from his side arm to its face as the rest of the team made out of the door. He giggled to himself. "Brings a whole new meaning to brute force." He began to move with the rest of his team to the main stair well. They stopped when they heard gunfire and the wail of an unfortunate Kig-Yar

"Spartans." Mark smiled.

_**1128 hours (14 Minuets until Martyrdom Departure, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), UNSC Patrick Deep Space Telemetry Station, Ground Floor, section Echo**_

"Jackal down."

"Copy that Ash. Keep your eyes open, the last thing we need is for us to kill the people we are here to save." Beth stuck a new magazine into the slot of her rifle, inserting a new round with the cocking handle.

"So are we having chicken tonight?" The New Zealander asked.

"I heard that Kig-Yar meat tastes like utter crap, like oily, greasy goose. One of the Innies we worked with, what's his name, scraggily hair black and grey hair, questionable love of explosives?" Matt said, cleaning a bit of blue blood off his rifle barrel.

"Darrel!"

"YES, Darrel Nelson! Strange man, but one of the nicest people we have ever met." He continued. "when we were doing one of out routine patrols he told me the best way to cook a Jackal is to fry'em and stick them in a stew."

"It is true." Ash said, the rest of them surprised, this was the first time she tried to have some chatter with the rest of them which wasn't 'Yes Sir, No Sir, Three Bags Full Sir.' but actual one to one talk. "Back with my old team, we were stuck on an old UNSC COM's outpost near Harvest called _Prometheus_, we were waiting to jump on a passing supply covenant shipment to the occupied planet. But instead they jumped us. Taking out our ONI Prowler, but of course, being Spartans, we kicked their ass into the next millennium. But with a dodgy slipspace connection, we sent a message to HIGHCOMM in Morse code."

"Let me guess, you weren't supposed to be out there for so long. So food would run out."

"Bingo. So we got inventive. _Prometheus_ was a well-equipped station, but not for a group of Spartans and two ODST fireteams. So we managed to perfect The Jackal Guidwife, the Jackal Pot Roast with fennel and the best being Pan Fried Jackal with an orange sauce."

"How did you come up with those recipes?"

"One of the ODST's was a chef of a restaurant on Arcadia before conscription, he lived in one of the Scottish colonies, Nova Scotia?" She shrugged. "Never mind. The thing is, Jackal is similar to Pheasant, quite gamey and the pheasant is quite a Scottish bird to eat."

"It is, and it is great. But there must be a catch?"

"There is, those birds are disgusting creatures. They managed space flight before us, but not self-hygiene. I think we may have taxed out the water purifier from cleaning the damn birds." She said as the team snuck around the corner. Ash smiled. "Friendlies."

"Copy that." Beth switched her speaker on. "Major Tung?" The air force team jumped. "This is Lieutenant Commander Milton. UNSC Navy."

"We hear you. We best be moving, because we have nine minuets to get off the ground and out of atmosphere."

"Then what?" Beth asked, as the team jogged up to them.

"The moon's surface is turned into glass from a synchronous nuclear detonation." She said, trying to keep up with the six nine Spartan.

"Great Nukes." Matt said dryly. "Thank god I saved up those bottle caps." Ross simply knocked him 'gently' on the back of the head. "Okay I get it. Geez." He moped. "But at least you get the reference."

"I suggest we sprint up to the to Pelican as quickly as possible. Being atomized isn't high on my to do list."

"Indeed." The Major said as she began to pick up the pace. Soon they were all jogging to the main stair well, with two Spartans to the rear and the fore. There was a blue blast as some of the security doors were breeched with antimatter charges. The back two, Matt and Ross, crouched and kept their backs to the sides of the security door, firing at the hatches with their rifles emptying into the covenant troops. The major stepped to the side, and slid her key card down the security door, locking down the section. "We need to get moving NOW." She shouted.

Ash and Beth had their shotguns out by the time they reached the staircase. They kept their guns up, pointing to the opposite side of the stairwell. The team behind them kept up with the fast moving Spartans. The Major along with Matt and Ross, closed off the door at the bottom of the stairwell. They began their run up to the rest of them.

They go to the top of the stairs. The Petty officer and the lieutenant commander stood at either side of the doorway, the red haired woman slid her key card into the slot, opening the hatch to the main engineering deck. The two of them slid behind a cart of compressed air canisters, popping up above cover, they took pot shots at the grunts surrounding the two pelicans. The two of them gained covering fire from the Air Force team from the doorway and the crates of unsorted supplies. The two Spartans got half way to the pelican stairway before Beth shot the back of the air canisters, leading to the rapid decompression of the canisters. The cart flew forward and pinned a now unshielded Elite against the wall, who was finished off with round from a magnum.

They began to run to the gangway up to the pelican's deck. A layer of snow had already begun to form on the top of the craft as they got into the back and started clipping themselves in. Ashley and Beth pulling themselves into their seats. "Get moving. We have a minuet left until we become nothing more than a carbonised ash." The Major announced over the radio. _Screw the Pre-flight._ Beth thought, as she started the engines. Once she got some lift, she immediately stuck on the after burners, causing the craft to jolt up with the fast acceleration. She tilted the nose skyward, at the highest angle she could achieve without stalling. "Thirty seconds."

"I Don't Need A Second By Second Please!" Beth shouted as she silently prayed for some action movie 'Deus Ex Machina'. She glanced at the altimeter; their acceleration was currently Ten G's, their current speed was about 1024 meters a second before the engines and the computers cut out as atmosphere lit up like a match, even the surface of Azure flared up for a second before dying slowly. Then there was the judder as the pressure wave from the blast forced the ship up. "Petty officer. Manual engine reset! Now!" Beth ordered as she attempted to keep the Pelican in level flight, using the nuclear blast as a propulsion method, riding the wave so to speak.

There was no response instead she just got to work. She manually built up energy in the back up capacitor engine starter. She pressed the ignition and the engines restarted. "Rebooting systems." She smiled as the screen came alive. "The computer is talking ma'am."

The pelican began to accelerate again ahead of the blast. In a minuet they were out in low orbit, the _Martyrdom_ sitting solitary over the bright pillar cloud filled sky. The light crimson and tan seeping back into the ground zeros. "Buenos Aires to _Martyrdom_, David, can you hear us?"

There was a crackly voice. "I hear you Beth. Loud and clear, you have quite the story to tell."


	23. Perth

**MDAM- I hope you are enjoying the weekly instead of the fortnightly updates for the story. I know riding a nuclear blast is a bit cheesy, but do I care? No. Riding a nuclear blast wave is awesome. This chapter may be a bit rushed due to the fact that I am in Germany this weekend and I am trying to get this uploaded onto before Thursday night (Wooo, 7 am flights). Anyhow, enough of me, To The Chapter! MDAM out. I know what I did at the end of this chapter is ever so slightly cheesy, one would say cringe worthy, but I have been chatting with another fanfiction writer about the subject for some time. o_o7**

C23: Perth

_**1145 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), Perth, High orbit**_

The _Edinburgh _battlegroup began to arrange itself around the New Brisbane Space Elevator (NBSE), the upper atmosphere was dotted with the blips of civilian shuttles as they entered slipspace. The Naval engineering corps had the old, decrepit shells of old civilian tankers and container transport vessels in the large orbital anchor ship repair space stations, or anchors in largest and fastest full-scale ship resurrection programme in existence, no, the largest and fastest full-scale fleet resurrection programme in existence. The non-slip capable shuttles; your civilian pelicans, interplanetary yachts, diplomatic shuttles and tugboats, getting kept into place with carbon-titanium industrial cabling, and if possible detachable crew compartments were inserted into container holds.

Captain Grierson was impressed to say the least, he was hoping that the space elevator could keep ferrying people and repair material to geosynchronous orbit. He looked at his watch; the _Martyrdom_ would be back any minuet now with the package. The current assumption was that the covenant would send their ships into Babylonian and Perthian space in two hours or so, and they haven't even evacuated a tenth of the population, though they could only stick half the population of the planet on civilian transportation and refurbished industrial and commercial vehicles, or so his AI Cirrus stated. Cirrus also suggested if they could get control of the two Springhill mining vessels there would be good seven point five per cent increase in population recovery, currently the two vessels, the UNSC Zollverein and the UNSC Wanlockhead were currently harvesting materials from Cinnabar.

He looked at the files on his computer, each with strange, different and unusual methods of transporting the last forty-two point five per cent of civilians. He could fit another ten on UNSC ships if they all survive the ordeal, there was also the suggestion of hijacking a Covenant Super Carrier, and attaching slipspace drives to SMAC's by using the rounds to propel them into the slipspace. The strangest of all was to use the top of all six space elevators, filled with people, to untether from the surface with a small nuke, activate a slipspace drive and with the use of rotational velocity, it would fly into slipspace.

"Cirrus. I want all civilians with a degree, apprenticeship or experience with a welder who arrives to be ordered to aid with ship reconstruction." He said.

"Yes sir." She said. Cirrus was a woman dressed in old colonial clothing, consisting of a black t-shirt, green combat trousers and a green smock, with the letters CAA written above the words Cirrus. She had dark, Middle Eastern skin tan skin with brown and blonde hair and hazel eyes. Though she had an Arab look, she spoke with an English accent. "Also I got the stock report from the UNSC Um Qasr and UNSC Kuwait ground ports. They say they have in total thirty spare Shaw-Fujikawa Drives in storage. Shall I suggest most effective use of the drives to the staff sir along side the all relevant information?"

"There is no point in ordering is there, you have already done it with full authorisation from the Admiral. Haven't you?"

"I would never." She said, her hand on her chest, making a mock defence. "Okay, maybe a little. But." She stopped. "Slipspace rupture detected. Activating fleet wide MAC activation." She said, the ships turning on their main weapons. She was silently hoping that this was the _Martyrdom_ even though they were to report to the _Berlin_. The swirling purple mass of the space-time rift opened, out the silver curved mass of a Covenant Super Carrier pierced through into real-space. "Captain, shall I call for reinforcements from the _UNSC Berlin_?"

He pondered it for a second. _If we are getting hit right now, the last thing we need is to leave the entirety of Babel open for invasion_. "No" He switched on the COM system, he took a breath before delivering the command. "All UNSC vessels, fire upon that carrier. All civilian transports, if loading process is above eighty per cent capacity, you are ordered to jump with accordance with the Cole Protocol Article Fourteen, Section Twenty-Seven to emergency assembly point Echo, await for further orders for twenty four hours for courier, if attacked or time has been surpassed, continue with Article Fourteen, Section Twenty-Eight, leave us for dead. This is Captain Grierson to all UNSC vessels. LETS SHOW THESE BASTARDS HAPPENS WHEN THEY FUCK WITH THE UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND SANDHURST FLEET, GIVE'EM HELL. _UNSC Edinburgh_ out." He clicked off. He turned to Cirrus. "Fire ship board SMAC and MAC one through six."

There was a shudder as a fast SMAC round was fired out the front of the Epoch class carrier, followed by the shudder of eighteen regular MAC rounds. The rest of the fleet continued with this, firing and piercing the shields of the carrier in a matter of seconds the entire hull was littered with holes, thought they were quickly filled with superheated gas and smoke as the ship blew up.

The morals suddenly improved, and people in the bridge stood up and cheered, but the captain remained unmoved. "All hands back to work. They are just testing our defences. They are just getting started, but so are we."

_**1145 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), Babel, High orbit**_

"Launch Archer Missile Echo through November." Shouted the Admiral. "And where are all the staff Alpha through Romeo? This is not a drill; get their Asses in step. Do or die people. I want all trainee ODST's in their tubes for atmo-drop in under a minuet, the pro's have been waiting in their cans for over a minuet." He said gripping his seat; the bridge was alive with ensigns, lieutenants and NCO's running around like headless chickens. They had never been in such a hectic situation before. His executive office, Commander Fernando Moreno, was trying his hardest in an attempt to bring order to the chaos, helping who ever he could with completing orders that the Admiral ordered. "Lieutenant Latimer, set course for Sierra Charlie, X-Ray 340, Yankee 42, Zulu 657."

"Aye Sir." He shouted typing in his orders. "Course set, ready for next input."

"Thank you Lieutenant."

"_Martyrdom_ slipping in. She is spooled up and firing." Said the New Ulmian Communications officer.

"Copy Lieutenant Blatt, get the Captain on the line, Ensign Kolovos damage report." He said to the Russian descended, blonde woman. The ship. "Also Ensign Jackson, tell bomber command to launch all X-variant bombers, armed with nuclear warheads."

"Aye Sir, request sent." Jackson responded.

"Hull Report, we have lost eleven point seven per cent of hull integrity." There was a shudder as the ship took a hit from a plasma torpedo. "I retract previous statement. Hull Report, we have lost fourteen per cent integrity."

"I hear you Ensign." He thanked, before addressing the crew. "Fuck the textbook methods of addressing. No more wasting of words. I want people to speak with the fewest number of words, no more 'I retract previous statement' or 'ready for next input'. I bloody know you are. All I need is a simple 'Aye Sir, No Sir'. Efficiency is key people. Am I understood?" The man shouted.

"Aye, Sir." they said loudly

"Say that again." Said, slightly disappointed in the volume

"AYE SIR." They shouted, in unison.

"Damn Right I am." He said before turning to his AI, Sidamo. His chosen avatar was an Ethiopian General but with the rank slides of the UNSC General and where there should have been medal ribbon bars, was instead a UNSC insignia. "What is the fleet status?"

"We have lost three cruisers two Halcyon, and a Marathon and six, no, wait, seven frigates, three Paris, three Charon and a Stalwart. Sir." he said, arms behind his back. "We currently have a fire rate of thirty a minuet from our SMAC's orbital defence platforms. We are holding them back enough to draw fire away from the civilian fleet and the elevators; no one expected to have the entire Covenant fleet arriving at a core system so soon."

The admiral nodded as he scanned over his data pad. "Indeed." He muttered. "How goes ship resurrection?"

"As per Cole Protocol, six major civilian from Babel alone ships have already jumped to RP-Echo. There has been some resistance on the ground, UNSC versus angry civilians versus Covenant. The biggest issue it the superintendent in New Mosel. They had sent a team of Air Force Regiment in there to flush detonate enough C-12 to make R.J Oppenheimer cry at night. The issue is, even though they have an amazing track record, even they need back up."

"We need to send some hard hitters down there. Deploy Oscar Five and Sierra."

"Spartans?"

"The last thing we need is an Apex repeat."

"By your command. Sir." He dismissed himself and disappeared.

_**1204 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Argent, Azure (Argent III), Babel, New Baghdad, **_

"This is Captain Ashley Wells of Fire Team Survivor to the _UNSC Hamburg_, requesting back up. We are losing control of the Basra Dam to Covenant forces; we need help ASAP before we lose control, over." Said the tall blonde haired woman over THEATERCOM.

"_Hamburg_ to Survivor-one, sit rep over?"

"We are all that are that is left, fire teams Immunity and Mercury have been killed in action. We managed to activate the AA cannons and the experimental Mass Drivers on the north side, but the southern is still open for enemy troops to drop in. We were told to hold fast and keep the systems operational as Immunity and Mercury proceeded to southwards, over."

"Who is still alive in your fire team, over?"

"Gunnery Sargent Alice Treske, Lieutenant Kelly Shaddock, Lieutenant Douglas Rutland and Warrant Officer Linda Pravdin, over." She said firing her DMR across the long concrete wall, the bullet casings creating a crescendo of small tings as they hit the floor. She wiped her blonde hair from her brow along with a large amount of sweat, preventing it from getting into her green eyes.

"We hear you ma'am. Sending reinforcements, expect them to drop in any minuet now, over."

"Your sending ODST's? Over."

"No, we are sending that and something a little better. _Hamburg_ out."

She remained still for a second as the heavy fire of Linda's Sniper bypassed the shielding of the brutes and elites, and into their now non-existent brains. Then it clicked, and the marine smiled. She changed her channel to her TEAMCOMM. "Ashley to Survivor. We are getting motherfucking Spartans."

**Yes I kn****ow this Captain is a flash clone. Now I know some may flick this off as stupid, but I think it is an interesting thought to find yourself face to face with your clone on the battlefield. Now many of you may be thinking that this wouldn't be possible, they die too quickly from MCF. But I say in response, F !# you. Daisy-023's clone died after EIGHT YEARS, so is it so hard to believe that five could survive Metabolic Cascade Failure. Think of all the psychological, social and dramatic stuff that people love reading that I could wring from this. My mouth waters just thinking about it.**


	24. The Sky Over Babel

**MDAM- I have thought about putting a chapter between each of the main chapters to show a different aspect to the war on the ground, from the Soldier, Civilian, Martyr and the Victim, Scientists, a convoy, a street gang, a lost child and so much more. I wish to get an angle on every possible aspect of the covenant invasion. Because when an alien force attacks your home, you don't know. Yes you may have watched the story based in New Mombasa with Sadie Endesha, but not that much more.**

**Secondly I have created my own planetary navigation system (Yes I know that is slightly sad, but this is me you are talking about), it works a little like this.**

**First you have Sierra or section, every planet has eight sectors, which are squares of that divide the planets sphere of influence. There are six points of convergence of four of the sections, they are the north and south poles, and the four midpoints between the poles (on the equator) on equidistant meridians, they split the planet in four like a melon, these sections between the poles are split in two at the equator, creating eight equally sized planetary sections, there is always at least one SMAC in each section, (though larger populations or more important facilities may have more)**

**Secondly you have your X-Ray, Yankee and Zulu coordinates, these are simply height, length and breadth that extend from the convergence point (Alpha 1, 2, 3 is equal to Echo 1, -2, 3), that when put together give a point in 3D space, and along with a bearing of X&amp;Y and X&amp;Z, can give a rough flight path that a ship is taking. As for the point of origin, it is the centre of the planet**

**As for velocity, it is measured in its speed in the X, Y and Z. A speed of 3.43, 3.52, 3.12, is a speed of 33.9 km/s, that coupled with the baring will give you the velocity and Estimated Time of Closest Approach or ETCA, which is calculated with the velocities of both vessels, as well as distance that the encounter will be at, also known as Estimated Distance of Closest Approach (EDCA). This allows for a clever use of dumb weapons systems, like bullets, to hit their target, especially when coupled with an AI. **

**Sierra Charlie (Section), X-Ray 7345, Yankee 7156, Zulu 7503 (Section position), Bearing 41 (X&amp;Y Bearing), 64 (X&amp;Z Bearing). Speed 1.34(X), 1.13(Y), 0.93(Z), with an ETCA of a minuet thirty-two. EDCA; 0.1 km.**

**And yes, I did just make up the basics of the UNSCDF-Navy ship-to-planet and ship-to-ship navigation in a Coffee shop. Any way, enough of my babbling about ship piloting techniques, go read some of this chapter you magnificent bastards. MDAM out. o_o7**

C24: The Sky Over Babel

_**1150 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Babel, UNSC Martyrdom, Bridge**_

The ship rocked violently as the plasma torpedo fired into the hull. "Davis! What is the status on the MAC charge? We need to fire this thing now, or we may as well be dead."

"It is reaching ninety five per cent sir, twenty six seconds until."

"There is a covenant cruiser on a heading of Sierra Charlie, X-Ray 7345, Yankee 7156, Zulu 7503, bearing 41, 64. Speed; 1.32, 1.13, 0.93, with an ETCA of a minuet thirty-two. EDCA; 0.1 km." Stated navigation officer Mendel.

"Copy that. Lieutenant." The holo-tank produced a 3D image of the current state of the New Mosel's sky, the red, representing the covenant forces, the blue, representing the UNSC vessels, with a green lines representing the flight path of the vessels and two orange arrows representing the points when they are both at their closest. "Arm HAVOK mines Alpha, Bravo and Delta to armed level two, insert into empty tubes Alpha-niner through one-one, launch detonation on my command. Mac rounds to enter lower hull, wait for may command."

"Shall we load nukes into missiles?" asked weapons officer Davis.

"Negative. Just warhead protection caps."

"Yes sir." He clicked confirm on his screen. "MAC Capacitor is ready for order."

"Copy that." He said fiddling with his data pad, putting in rough numbers and figures.

"Sixty seconds, until CA." Confirmed Mendel.

"Copy. Aim ship to bearing 42, 65." He said, staring a timer on data pad. "Use emergency thrusters at my command."

"Yes sir." Mendel confirmed, raising an eyebrow. _He is going to do something ridiculous_.

David grabbed the microphone. "Captain to all ship personnel. Brace for emergency manoeuvres, all personnel in Section Alpha, drop what you are doing, please run to Section Bravo ASAP."

"Thirty Second, Plasma Torpedoes inbound, ETA fifteen seconds."

"Copy, shut down engines, and activate engine blast shields, engage emergency thrusters on my mark, activate fleet wide BANDERSNATCH warning." He counted began to count to ten in his head, hearing the scrape and groan of the metal covering the engines. _Ten, nine, eight…_

"Signal sent, on repeat." Stated the communications officer, as the sudden clunk as the shield came into place. There was a loud bang as the plasma torpedoes made contact with the front of the ship, taking off a large amount of metal. _Thee, two, one…_

"Mark!" He said, as Mendel activated the emergency, the ship flipped around and faced the flight path of the cruiser. The Covenant ship spewing large amounts of blue, purple and green at the UNSC vessel. "Launch Alpha-niner and one-one" the three nukes began to make their way towards the covenant ship, using the shrapnel from the front as flack as the ships grav-plating held it in place, the sudden rush of air pushed the remaining metal out. It looked inconspicuous, innocent shrapnel, with three nukes acting as a Trojan horse.

"Arm Nukes to level one." He looked at the timer on his data pad. "And get the MAC ready."

He inserted the nuclear detonation key. "Fire in three, two, one. Mark!" The ship fired a volley of three MAC rounds into the rear shields of the covenant cruiser, first two hit, lighting the shields up, the third broke it like glass. The shrapnel and nukes had two seconds to get into position before the shields reactivated. _One, Two_… He grabbed the key and twisted it sharply. He could see the slight flash as the freshly reformed shield wall connected, followed by the sudden flash of the nuclear detonation. The new shield contained the blast long enough for the release of atomic energy filled the bubble with a beautiful irradiance. It was white with pure energy, uncontrolled energy, as it the shield finally broke again, under the strain. The ship was cooked from the insides of its own shielding, the raw power detonating its antimatter and fusion fuels brilliantly, adding more fuel to the inferno.

The shields finally broke, and the contained monster was released into the world. Babel had for a couple of seconds of a second sun before it went supernova. The bright thermonuclear blast heating he engines of the still revolving space craft. Jolting the craft slightly. "Enemy ship destroyed."

The crew patted one another on the back before they got to work; after all they had a planet to defend.

_**1159 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, UNSC Martyrdom, Briefing room two**_

Beth and company was walking down the halls of the _Martyrdom_ making for the debrief room. She swiped down her PDA against the reader. The door unlocked and they walked in standing at ease, waiting for an order, anything. There was one thing a Spartan hated more than anything else, and that was waiting around and doing nothing while others where risking their lives for humanities survival. Luckily they didn't have to wait, as the XO came through the door almost immediately. "Commander on deck." Beth said, coming to a sharp attention, saluting the officer who returned it.

"I will make this quick and as painless as possible. You are going to drop into New Baghdad, you are going in to collect or destroy the superintendent AI with the aid of marines and ODST. They are currently at the Euphrates Hydroelectric power station in just west of the city centre. That part of the city is heavily fortified with Covenant forces; with two Cruisers over the surface and for some reason they aren't glassing the whole place."

"What how many of us are going to be on the ground sir?"

"On top of yourselves, the remains of a marine task force and an ODST squad." He said. "We might drop some ordnance from orbit if we can. Apart from that, we are done here. Any other questions?" Everyone shook his or her head. "Excellent. Good Hunting, Godspeed, and etcetera. Dismissed." The team saluted before falling out and making their way to the drop pods.

_**1202 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, UNSC Berlin**_

Mason, Ramirez and Foley where in their respective drop pods, waiting for the trainees to get ready and in their coffins. The screens flashed up, showing the face of the _Berlins_ ground forces resource management officer. "Ma'am?" Foley's eyebrow lifted with questioning.

"Change of plan boys. You ain't destroying fancy ONI toys; you are going to drop in the Baghdadi area as join the AI chauffeur team. You are now glorified delivery boys, with a first class stamp to the surface." She said. "But don't worry, you will have lots to kill, two cruisers worth of Covenant and all. You are dropping in thirty." The timer started on their LED screens.

"Two cruisers worth. Seems like Christmas has come early boys."

"Horah!" The Ramirez and Mason shouted.

"Damn right." He turned back to the GFRM officer. "I guess we will see you on the flipside."

"I hope so. Adios, Auf Wiedersehen, Au Revoir, Goodbye and good luck." The officer said as clamps, belts and motors began to shift the metal boxes towards the now open airlock blast doors. The ship filled sky was shown below, the light of bullet tracers and plasma rounds creating a multi-coloured light show. _Pretty._ Mason thought to himself. The numbers ticked down. _Three, two, one…_

"Feet First Into Hell!" They all shouted before they dropped out of the ship and into the open warfare, the firing of MAC rounds, plasma torpedoes and archer missiles sailed around them. They hit the atmosphere along side the plasma-scorched hull of a UNSC Frigate the white words of _UNSC Elmshorn_ written on the blackened titanium. It was an odd thought to think that ninety per cent of the crew on that vessel were still in training, not even a Private or an Ensign, but still they were able to survive half an hour in the chaos and confusion of Naval warfare. To say the least, the three of them felt an odd sad pride to be a human being.

They deployed their drogue chutes. They were followed by another group of four drop pods, coming up as yellow on their IFF tags. They the orange fires of re-entry ceased to be alight, the tan stretches of Babel's titanic desert expanse stretching to the horizon, but below them was quite the sight to behold. The city of New Baghdad under the shadow of the space elevator and two large ORS-Class cruisers, blanketing the city in their two massive one and a half kilometre shadows. The three of them activated guidance systems that directed the pods to the preferred landing site. There was a sudden jolt as the Rapid Deceleration Rockets fired, allowing for a survivable touchdown that was just under blackout levels of deceleration.

The sudden jolt as the ship made contact with the dam's asphalt covering, spraying the surface with tiny bitumen fragments, flying in every direction with bullet level velocities. The explosive pins fired forward, effectively jettisoning the doorway. There where loud smashes as the four other pods collided with the ground. The ODST's began grabbed their battle rifles from the sides of their pods and raced for the cover of an upturned car. The did a quick search of all local radio channels, there was a click, a buzz and the static disappeared, replaced by the orders of a UNSC Major. Foley spoke over the radio. "This is Gunnery Sargent Avery Foley, UNSC ODST's. You ordered back up?"

"This Major Ashley Wells, UNSCAF. Enemy have the south side. You think you are enough?

A third voice joined the conversation. "No, but we will. Spartans here."


	25. Interlude I - The Evacuee

**MDAM- This is my first interlude, see how this goes down with you guys, hopefully well. If not just post a review or ring my bell. Your call. Anyway I have catch up to do. *Cracks out the gin and tonic (don't forget the cucumber and ice)*, see you soon, plus as a Christmas present to all those people who have followed Darkness Before Dawn, I have a nice Christmas present incoming. Possibly. (Though that means I have to clear up my timetable of drinking, Legend of Zelda, drinking, drinking, Christmas, school drinking and did I say drinking). Finally, I was thinking about a new cover to make for this fiction, just wondering if you guys had any thoughts or opinions.** **Anyhow I wish you a Merry Christmas. Keep safe. MDAM out… o_o7**

C25: Interlude I (The Evacuee)

_**1215 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Babel, New Baghdad, Al-Rashid District, 21 Safbet Street**_

"Come on Danny. We need to get going." She said, two arms looping under his. Swinging him into the back seat of the car. "Clip yourself in, mummy is coming back in a second." She ruffled his hair and smiled, her CAA militia standard issue BR35HB Battle rifle slung over her shoulder. She rushed back into the house. She opened the metal door and grabbed the few personal belongings such as a picture of herself with her husband and Daniel, she was allowed to take, storing them in a light drab olive UNSCDF deployment duffle bag along side a few extra rifle magazines and their papers.

Taking a deep breath she left her home for the last time, not even bothering to lock up. Jogging towards the car, she clumsily clipped on her colonial militia identification lapel. She slid into the front seat, throwing her rifle into the passenger side and started the engine and began reversing out into the street lit by the electric lamps due to the sun was blocked up with the shadows of the two massive covenant ships creating an odd, twilight or eclipse like semi darkness, akin to thick dark clouds on a bright summers day.

The car began its way down the long streets towards their local assembly and evacuation point. Her son oblivious to what was going on kept his eyes on his data pad, listening to some music, reading or playing some stupid game. However she kept her eyes her surroundings, looking for any trouble, which may come their way. She saw her neighbours, piling all they could into the back of their cars. _Like they would be able to take any of that on board._ She shook her head in quiet disproval. Others she saw were, being loaded onto the backs of army and CAA warthogs.

She turned to go onto the motorway. _Shit._ Was the first word that came to her mind. The six-lane highway was littered with large numbers of vehicles attempting to get to their evac stations. She looked over her satnav (surprised that the covenant had only knocked out one GPS satellite) and looked for alternate routes, most of them having bad traffic reports or were military only. She looked at her watch, thinking over how much time she had left until glassing started. They had about four hours, and she wasn't going to make it at this rate. She turned off down the military traffic route hoping that her white Colonial Administration Authority car would count as official enough to get her past the checkpoint.

Se drove up and stopped in by the checkpoint, gates. She reached into her glove box, snaking her fingers around the user manual and her magnum. She picked out her licencing papers and looked to the right after rolling the windows down. A corporal looked her up and down. "Miss Mahmoud this is a military only transport route. No civilians, could you please turn around and let the traffic through." He looked nervous, but to be fair he had an excuse, the world was falling around him. His eyes darted between her, Daniel and the rifle. He his dark skin covered in sweat.

"Major Safwa Mahmoud, of CAA Militia."

He stuttered "Yes Ma'am, but still…"

"But still what, in times of evacuation, the CAA Militia is seen as an auxiliary defence force of the UNSCDF, making me a superior officer of another department which isn't the army, but still and officer of the UNSC. So please let me through corporal."

"Ma'am…"

"Who is your commanding officer?"

"Ma'am"

"Your CO. Who is he or she."

"Colonel Kalinski. Ma…"

"Ah yes, Steph Kalinski, a good friend of mine." She interrupted again glaring at him with an unimpressed smile. "I am sure she would be glad to see a good friend and fellow officer shooed away by an insubordinate NCO's expert opinion. He defiantly wouldn't get a court martial or a demotion. But I am sure nothing of consequence would happen if he just let this person go through, don't you agree?"

He took a breath as to make a retort, but decided against it and sighed. "You are free to go ma'am." He saluted and the gate opened.

"I'll put a good word in for you corporal…"

"Jamal Ali."

"Good man." She wound up the window and started the engine again, driving off down the dirt path. A convoy of tarp backed troop carriers behind them. Pelicans zoomed past, at great speed. The lights of the airfield tuned off but its silhouette visible in the half-light. The dark under bellies of the two ships were lit up with orange tracer fire and a mix of green and blue plasma. _Pretty_. She silently scalded at herself for thinking that, it was true it was art, but the fact that it was war, and that is the complete polar opposite to _Pretty._ They arrived at the local evac point. The ablative tarp covered pelicans hidden from enemy sensors but were filling up already with the restless and weary. Safwa parked the car up behind the main hub of the building.

The evacuation point was the Al-Rashid District University Hospital. The building was constructed three and a half years prior, so and was one of the most advanced medical institutes on the planet as well as one of tae largest. It had the full package, with its own airfield and a direct link with the New Baghdad Space Tether. She stuck on the hand break and got out the vehicle, slinging both her rifle, holstering her pistol and her belongings before picking up Daniel out his booster seat and into her arms.

She turned off her son's data pad. The entire place was strict, no light unless needed. The last thing anyone needed was to attract attention from the covenant. They got into the queue and she put Daniel down on the ground to look for their passports and papers in the duffle bag.

The queue had moved along fairly quickly as the got to the front. The blacked up windows of the Porto-Cabin seeping out a small sliver of red light. They entered through the door into the dimly lit room, their passes scanned and approved. A Staff Sergeant addressed he to a table. "Your weapons ma'am."

She nodded, putting Daniel down and relinquishing her weapons, dropping them unceremoniously on the counter along with any ammunition. "Satisfied."

"Yes ma'am. You are on Pelican Thirty Five, good luck." He quickly saluted as she stepped out. Looking counting down each and every pelican… _Thirty Three, Thirty Four, ah ha, Thirty Five._ She lifted Daniel into the aircraft, before sitting down next to him.

Safwa was worried; she had no idea where her husband, Mohammad, was. It wouldn't be long until the evacuation began. The army began to roll back the ablative-coated tarpaulins before the engines were started. A quick pre-flight check and the closing of the back hatch, before a slight jolt as the aircraft left the ground and began accelerating away from the city. Looking out the window, she saw a number of blue, green and purple streaks come after the evacuation craft, a few even hitting.

The shockwave of an exploding aircraft shuddered against the Pelican Thirty-Five. She got out Daniels data pad and lodged the headphones around his. "Don't worry Danny, it is just a little turbulence. Nothing is wrong." She lied, but he nodded, satisfied with the answer before sticking on a game, completely oblivious to the war outside. She rested her head against the soft back of the pelican seat, taking a deep breath as a lone solitary tear fell down her cheek.

There was another jolt, bigger than the last. This one rocked the entire craft, before the sound of ripping metal, the dimming of the lights. Quickly glancing out the window, one of the engines had been damaged. The smoke billowing, but the air craft was still flying, but would never get out of the atmosphere. The radio crackled. "I am afraid we will have to ditch this aircraft, could all passengers please get into the brace position and stow all loose articles."

Taking the her sons entertainment away from him, she put it back in her deployment back, before sticking it under her seat. "Follow exactly what I am doing."

"Mum?"

"Shh, it will be all right, this is just a game, keep your head down, and everything will play out fine." Again he just nodded, and followed his mother's lead, hands over head, looking over their laps. "Keep your eyes closed. Just keep them shut. Everything will be fine." _My arse._ She thought, knowing that her chances of getting off this rock was almost about zero.

The pelican jolted again, this time more violently. The couple next to them were muttering a couple of prayers. Taking a breath she held it in anticipation, waiting for the ship to touch down in the Shatt Al-Arab estuary. They felt the pelican move up and down, intentionally stalling the aircraft to drop their velocity. Then there was a violent crash as the pelican made a less than graceful contact with the body of water, the left wing clipping the surface, rolling the aircraft bottom up. The ship skidding into a sand bank with loud jittering bangs before coming to a final loud bang as the Pelican crashed into a concrete flood barrier, crushing the pilot. The red emergency lights had flickered on.

She looked around herself, the sweat dripping down her forehead. She looked to her right to see Daniel hanging upside down next to her, clearly alive due to him screaming his lungs out. Clearly this annoyed Safwa, and doubly for the rest of the passengers, so she unclasped herself and unceremoniously fell onto the ceiling now floor. Pressing up off the floor she unclasped him in the hopes he would shut up before proceeding to aid her fellow failed evacuees. She fiddle around the straps loosening them, sliding slowly out like a butterfly out a cocoon.

With two of them out she decided to find a way out of the aircraft, looking for anything with a big red button, yellow and black hatchings or big block letters saying Emergency or Explosive Bolts. She looked around, and smiled when she found something that fit all three descriptions. Smashing it with the side of her fist, the pins jettisoned and sent the back panel skimming across the surface like a stone. Clambering out side the wreck of the ship, she got her bearings. She just silently hoped that was the worst of it.


	26. I'll Be Damed

**MDAM- Woo. It is late (as per usual, but hey I have an image to uphold) due to me finally after six months, got a job. Also, I had to finish that Christmas present for all those people who actually follow and favourite one of my other stories, Halo: Darkness Before Dawn, (Shameless plug, I know, but please go read.) as I have uploaded a full chapter since July. Anyhow, this chapter is a very special chapter for the people who have been with me since the beginning and myself. That is right I have been writing this story for over a year now! And looking over the previous chapters one thing is for certain, this story needs a major rewrite. Jeez when you look over some of the old dialogue, you just shiver on how cringe worthy it is. If any of you lot have a **

C26: I'll Be Damned

"…Spartans here." Said the third voice said. The ODST's instantly knew who that was.

"Lieutenant Commander, ma'am. It is a pleasure to have you drop in." Foley said, kicking sliding in behind a half destroyed concrete jersey barrier, loading a High Velocity 40mm round into the grenade launch tube. He propped it up like a mortar and fired it towards the enemy.

"Why, I am flattered, Gunnery Sergeant." She said, running behind the blacked our remains of a car, the sound of plasma fire. Rattling the scorecard shell of the car, leaving darker patches of soot on the outside. She snuck to the side and quickly looked down the road. They needed those air defences online. If they got switched on, advancement into the centre of New Baghdad by UNSC support troops would be so much easier. The dam itself was thirty meters wide, with a motorway running across it. Though it seem all the traffic was one way there was still sufficient cover provided by the cars going into the city. The dam was curved and had three towers, one to the north and south and one in the middle, the each had an AA cannon, but the north and south had experimental Mass Driver MAC's that fired with enough force to take out a covenant ship with a few shots if it had its shields down, so even on a low charge, they were useful as anti-air. The Asphalt was covered with pockmarks where fuel rod cannons and shell had been exchanged. Beth was silently relieved in the strength of human engineering, but still had the slight worry in her gut that the dam would not hold. Shaking her head, she put those thoughts to the back of her mind.

Ashley was situated about ten meters behind next to a UNSC transport warthog with Matthew, Ross, Mason and Ramirez. She listened to the radio as Foley transmitted an order. "Ramirez! Get back to the middle tower; Survivor's sniper needs a hand. The rest of you, lets give him some covering fire."

Foley may have been a NCO, but his plan made sense. "Do what he says, he knows what he is doing." Beth radioed, making sure her Spartans complied, as she began firing down the street, distracting the covenant. "Now Move Your Collective Asses." She said throwing a grenade before jumping over the bonnet of the car and into a crater, removing her Battle Rifles A2 Short Range sight with an Oracle N-x5/10 C-LR Sniper scope and linked the system to her helmet. She popped the bi-pod down to stabilize the weapon on some rocks.

Her sniper sight was a modified version of the standard LR scope, because this one had inbuilt tracking point technology which allowed the sniper to aim the rifle while in cover. She rocked the reticules into position aiming it right at the head of a grunt ultra, and quickly dispatching three rounds to its head, causing its head to splash up against the wall of the energy barrier before it rapidly evaporated. She moved her hand slightly, keeping her eye on the 50 per cent transparent display on her screen as the red light indicated she had tracked over an elite major. She clicked her fingers and a tracking marker was placed on the alien as it ducked into cover. It moved a little to the left and the marker picked it up. Moving the rifle to the left she was about to fire but an APFSDS took him out before she had a chance. "Elite Major down." Said Survivor's sniper over the radio.

"Copy Linda, move out." Said the major as she and the rest of the UNSCAF soldiers made quickly down the western side of the motorway, keeping their heads below car height to keep them from being shot at by a Covenant sniper. Kelly took the front, armed with her shotgun, and quickly running down the asphalt path. She slid to a halt, she changed her shotgun for a pistol, and linked it to her peripheral screen, a small screen that hung to the side of her right eye that linked with the KFA-2 x2 pistol magnification scope. She zoomed in further down the road and smiled.

"Ma'am, we have an ambush ahead. Permission to decimate."

"One moment LT. Lieutenant Commander to your left. Do you see a bus?"

"Yes Major."

"Good." She smiled. "Throw a grenade at it."

"Copy." She said grabbing a grenade a lobbing it through the window. An orange fireball erupting from the underneath the vehicle as the fragmentation grenade ignited the hydrogen fuel cell.

"Kelly you are good to go. Survivor, go back her up." She said firing down the way. Giving her covering fire.

"ODST's, Fireteam white, get your ass down here ASAP." Beth ordered as she jumped out of her hidey-hole and in front of the bus as Kelly ran past. _Good god. She is fast for a non-Spartan_. Sliding into the path, she jumped in behind Kelly who had switched back to her shotgun and shot a grunt in the face, without stopping before she came face to face with a brute. She dug her heels into the ground and chambered a new shell taking a pot shot at the gorilla like alien, its shields flared, sparked and dissipated as it swung around its brute shot, attempting to get her with its blade. _Bugger_. Kelly thought as she skirted around a black SUV, coming face to face with a grunt. She immediately dropped her gun and grabbed the small creature and tackled it into the sharp remains of a burnt out car. Its limp hands dropped its weapon. She picked up a Type-33 needler and pointed it towards the sound of a small explosion as the SUV was rocked to the side by the brute shots explosive rounds. She lifted the needler and quickly to take out the brute if it got to close. But the side drop kick by the Spartan Lieutenant Commander took it to the floor, digging her heel into its throat, killing it with muffled gurgle.

Three other Spartans of fireteam white came jumping out. Matthew tackled a brute chieftain to the floor, slicing its throat. _I so wish I could do that!_ Kelly thought to herself, though the ODST's were thinking more on the lines of. _Show offs._ As Ashley-014 broke the shielding of an elite, and finishing it off with three point blank pistol shots to the chest, creating a fountain, for a lack of a better word, of blood coming out the exit hole. Ross was busy spraying his way through a line of grunts, he quickly moved between the front and back of a car and van respectively to let his shield recharge. But that didn't stop the torrent of bullets as Major Wells and Gunnery Sergeant Foley taking charge of continual three-burst fire down the bottleneck. Keeping their backs to the vehicles.

Running out of ammunition for her Battle Rifle, the major dropped it and quickly exchanged it for her DMR, taking pot shots at anything that was stupid enough to pop its brainless head over. While in the next lane across, where Douglas and Mason were unleashing hell with an assault rifle and a heavily over customised SAW, leaving the path way a little short of being a mixed meat stew with spent bullet casings and soaked armour vessels. Kelly, Beth and Ashley were next to one another; Kelly went ahead, wielding her shotgun, checking the corners as they passed. She was crouching down her grey and desert tan camouflage sleeves rolled up to her pauldron, her sharp pale blue eyes, ever watchful for shifting shadows against the floor or concrete road barriers.

Matthew and Ross were currently running on the top of the frozen river of vehicles, giving the sweeper teams an extra two pairs of eyes to scan for the sneaky bastards who tried to hide behind the broken remains of cars, lorries and vans. In the distance the two of them could see two large green and orange bahemouths coming towards them, looking at each other, the two of them shared a mutual thought. _Well… Shit._

"Pravdin to ground team, you have two very mean, green hunters coming your way. Over."

"Did you just say hunter. Shit." Wells exclaimed. "Spartans, Helljumpers, what fancy tricks do you have up your collective sleeves? Over."

"I have large amounts of C-12 in my backpack." Mason said, getting a few raised eyebrows. "What? I was part of the Combat Engineer Corps and I am the only one here with full qualifications to handle the stuff."

"We all are." Matthew said.

"Yeah, that's because you lot are a bunch of super soldiers, we are talking about us underling bog standard human here." He said. "Not you big, strong, fall from space and survive without a HEV or ride a fucking nuclear blast god men."

"You heard about the last one already?" Ross questioned.

"Wait what?" He said confused. "There is no way you rode a nuclear blast."

"We have four people here who have all done it and survived due to ma'am's beautiful flying skills." Matthew said.

"When?"

"Let me check." He waited a few seconds, humming just to irritate him. "Oh yes, that was about an hour, hour and a half. Before we got off our pelican and decided to take a drop down into New Babel."

"You're fucking with me right?" He said. Foley was chuckling, clearly not believing it, but laughing at the way Mason carried himself.

"You my good fried need to learn and not get so easily worked up." Ross said lightly but his tone changed to something serious as the sound of the crumpling of cars as the hunters slowly compressed and flattened them like a trash compacter. "Plastic explosives please." He said, waving his fingers in the _gimmie gimmie _style. Slid down to meet Matthew as they got out a small two by two by ten-centimetre stick of the high explosive. He grabbed a detonation stick, sticking each of them into their registration port in their tac-pads, syncing and connecting them to for remote detonation, before sticking them snugly inside the soft grey play-dough like bomb.

Ross handed one block to Matthew. "Happy Birthday, mate."

"Oh, Ross. You shouldn't have. This is all I ever want." He said, as he vaulted a car. "I hope you made me cake, chocolate is my favorite. Will there be confetti?"

"There will be if you plant that sucker into the heart of the that son of a bitch." Foley said.

The rest of the three teams began their slow walk down, continuing much as they did before as Ross and the Birthday Boy began to leg it down the their path of metal roof tops. Beth turned on her speaker and spoke quietly to Kelly. "Do you know the funny part of all of that is?"

"No. Indulge me ma'am." She asked, still scanning the area with her shot gun, her eyes not distracted by the small talk.

"It is actually his birthday."


	27. Interlude I (The Gunnery Sergeant I)

**MDAM- Happy New Year. It is the start of a new year, a new chapter and whole lot of exams ahead of me (yay!), so lets start it off with a the horrors of war (Real cheery, I know right.). But I am not going to lie, this chapter was bit rushed, my computers touch pad, mouse pad, or whatever, decided that left and right click weren't going to work. Also my boss decide to call me into work early twice for new year eve and Saturday evening (when I was trying to get this story done). So that is that. Enough of my issues, back to the main story next week. MDAM out. o_o7**

C27: Interlude II (The Gunnery Sergeant I)

The four soldiers armed with SAW Light Weapon Systems and a M247H 12.7 mm heavy machine gun remained perfectly still waiting for the fighting behind the sealed door ahead of them. Brown eyes twitched as they roamed each and every detail of the door, trying to deter any detail that might change. He stretched his fingers around the SAW's pistol grip as the sound of brass bouncing, plasma scorching and gunpowder igniting. He took deep, calming breaths to keep him from panicking. His knees weak, his head felt overly itchy, it was driving him mental.

Another stayed completely still, motionless in every way, shape and form. His green eyes keeping exactly at grunt head level at the door. He was lying down, his breaths controlled, right leg up to his upper shin, keeping his sights level. Left arm propping the light machine gun up, his elbow resting on a sandbag. The final SAW wielding marine was quickly muttering under his breath, a prayer, hoping that if anyone was up there, that they would take pity upon him and let him get out of here, but not in a body bag. The final soldier was on the heavy turret. He crouched painfully over the turret, damning his height and weapons selection.

The room suddenly went quiet as the barrage stopped as the final cry of a now forgotten soldier was silenced as the sound of an energy blade pierced the heart of the woman. The final four members of the final fireteam all hitched their breathing as the whaled whittled into nothingness. _Clamp. Clamp. Clamp. Clamp._ _Buzz_. The soldiers twitched with each bang against the metal blast door the brown-eyed man shifting his restless leg behind him to offer a better stance. They could see the orange molten metal as a covenant plasma cutter pierced through the Titanium-A door.

The machine gunner cleared his throat. "I know we are not likely to get out of this alive, but I would like to say it as it is. It has been an honour to serve with you."

The green-eyed man smirked meekly. "Likewise sir. But please be a little bit optimistic. If you guys get through this all in one piece, I'll buy you all round."

"Now I will defiantly be a stubborn bastard and refuse to die, and if I don't, I will haunt you until you pour a pint on my grave." He joked, easing the tension. "Now, double and triple check your weapons people. I want to see at least one magazine gone before I have to pick your ass off the floor." There a rustling of weapons, they didn't use traditional magazines, their SAW's had bullet belts that fed straight from a bullet case. They all cocked back the cocking handle of the LWS. They rested their weapons against the bottom of the metal barriers U-shaped cut out.

"Aurora two, green." Said the brown-eyed man.

"Aurora three, green." Said the green-eyed man.

"Aurora four, green, and very mean."

"Aurora one, green." He began to shout. "Marines, shall we show these covenant scumbags to their gods?"

"Sir, Yes, Sir."

"Shall we not go quietly into the night" Shall we beat down our foe's who stand in our way?" The buzzing stopped followed by the sound of four clamps being removed.

"Sir, Yes, Sir."

"Then on my command." Elite sized hole was created as the foot of a Brute Chieftain kicked the metal plate on the floor. "FIRE!" He didn't even need to complete his command before the marines decided to make a meat grinder out of the small bottle neck, not even giving the covenant a sportily chance of getting of a shot before they let their waves of bullets claim their lives. There were a couple of shots let off as a few jackals managed to get some pot shots before there shields fell from the fierce torrent of explosives rounds. A bubble shield generator was thrown into the room, hindering their defence.

The shield space was filled up all types of covenant forces. Mainly Elites and Brutes who were kneeling down. Ready to fire upon the four of them. The brown-eyed man dropped his weapons and grabbed two incendiary grenades. "Sorry about this." He said, before running towards the shield.

"Private, Stop!" shouted Aurora one, but it was already too late. The man skidded into golden water like barrier, taking a lesson from the grunts as he let the safety grips go. The spring-operated mechanism ignited the fuel and rapidly expanded to fill the entire bubble chamber with the highly flammable mixture, which suddenly shorted the shield generator, but not before cooking the aliens inside along with the marine. "FUCK." He shouted as he let an inhuman cry as the machine gun let rip. Tearing through the horde of religious fanatics. The two others were following suit, the last thing they needed was their teammate and friend die in vain.

The flurried exchange of metal and superheated gas continued. The front of the sand bags slowly turning into glass as it absorbed the brunt of hits, though the back of the room was slowly turning into soot. Gods, here they were, protecting some scientists who for some reason were not content with just blowing up the whole god damned facility and be over with it. Aurora one grabbed his fourth and final ammunition box for his M247H. A stray green bolt came out of nowhere and hit Aurora two in the shoulder, forcing him back into a wall. "Shit, corporal."

"Don't mind me sir." He wheezed, holding back the tears. "I still have enough fight in me left to take some of these bastards with me." He said removing, his pistol and aiming and taking a few good shots before he was out of breath; his left shoulder was bleeding profusely. Aurora one hoping silently that the fact that he was passed out would slow his heart rate down enough to slow the blood flow enough.

He and Aurora three were still firing down the hallway, the covenant forces had managed to flood into the room, using he bodies of their fallen comrades as cover. He could still see Aurora one's chard marine BDU on the floor, he started crying out in an animalistic rage, but stopped as he heard the last thing he needed to hear. _Click_. "Sergeant, we need to get going. The machine gun is dry."

"Bugger. Copy that sir."

"Keep me covered, I am going to unlock the door." He quickly hopped up and slid his key card down the small slot and typed in his identification code. The door slid open and the two ran in, taking the body of Aurora three with them. The door closed and the two of them slumped against the wall. "Fuck me." He said, looking over the laboratory. There was a furnace with filled with shredded paper, large numbers of magnets placed over hard drives and computers and server racks in a pile with a man in a white lab coat going over them with a flame thrower. One of the scientists ran over. "Shit. Are you guys alright?" She asked, as she fixed her headscarf.

Aurora one looked straight into her eyes, his left eye squinted with a slight twitch as he attempted to hold back his anger. He heard behind him the crescendo of the four clamps and the plasma cutter began to pierce through the door. He pushed his anger to the side. "What weapons do you have available at the moment?"

"We are scientists, all we have are out ONI standard issue personal protection pistols and a flame thrower with enough kerosene to melt down the computer components. We are civilians." She said putting her hands up.

"Is there any other way out of this facility?"

"No, this is an ONI Section Three, NAVSPECWEP, Weapon and Armour System Testing Facility. One way in, one way out. It is meant to be that way, ONI paranoia and secrecy and all." She said, crossing her arms. "So I guess this is the end of the line?"

"Wait this a weapon and armour testing facility, right. Well don't you have weapons and armour?"

"Sure, but you won't have the clearance or the technical know-how to use them, plus this is all very experimental."

"How experimental."

"Lets just say that someone is currently in intensive care at the moment because of a slight miscalculation error." She winced just remembering what happened to one of her colleagues.

"Have you ironed it out?"

"Yes, we…"

"Good, then we will use it. Show us the way."

"But sir…"

He snapped. "I don't a damn. I just lost a man and I am currently in the process of losing another." He pointed to the ground where Aurora three was resting, motionless. "You are going to show me those gizmos and we are going to kick some covenant ass." He shifted his hand to the half ring of molten metal forming on the blast door. "Now is not the time to give a rats arse about clearance and regulation."

She put her hands up in defeat. "Okay. We will do it your way, but if I get stuck in front of an ONI tribunal, I am going to blame this all of you."

"At least you will be still breathing." He said, grabbing his pistol as they made down corridor, following the scientist who called out to her science team. "Amir, Farris, Jamal. Lets go. Unless you want to be the meet and greet for a bunch of angry covenant?"

The three slid down from their respective stations. Amir joined her by her side, still wearing his fire retardant gear. "Where are we going?"

"These marines want to test our prototypes before the Covenant get their grubby hands on them."

'"But they don't have the clearance."

Aurora one butted in. "Oi, mate. Do you want to get out of here alive."

"Sure, bu…"

"Then don't complain." He said before the sound of metal banging against metal. "Shit they are through. I would suggest we get on our merry way." He said. "Sergeant how goes the corporal.

"He is still alive, but I think if we don't get him to a field hospital in the next two and half to three hours. I think we will lose him." He grunted, shifting the extra body weight on his shoulders. Looking behind his back, the gunnery sergeant, saw the emergence of two grunts.

Bringing down his peripheral screen he used his KFA-2 2x camera sight. He took a few pot shots at the grunts, forcing them back into cover. "Doc, is there anything you can do to slow them down."

"There is." She scooted off to the side and placed her key card into its designated slot. She pressed a few buttons and more blast doors closed.

"One question doc, why so many blast doors?"

"Weapons testing." She left it at that, and in all honesty, he didn't really want to know.

They came to a final blast door. It was gun metal grey and had the letters MRK-V-EX-SK-X15. Typing in her clearance codes and her ID and biometrics. The doors slid open, revealing a large humanoid standing eight foot tall. It was painted black, with yellow safety hatchings and red and grey no go areas. Next to it was a larger version of the M247H machine gun, but instead of bullets it seemed to fire 40mm High Velocity, High Explosive grenades. "Well, this is not quite what I was expecting. He said looking into its golden viso.


	28. Nova

**MDAM- Hey all, just like to say that in the not to distant future I may not be able to upload chapters in time, so I have with me five different excuses. To start off with, I have preliminary examinations at school, which means I will be studying and revising for my school subjects. Secondly, I will be in Germany in late February. Thirdly I will be in Italy skiing with the school like last year. The penultimate reason is, I will have to create folio pieces for my universities, so I have to create a large amount of work between now and the 21****st**** of January. Finally I am also beginning the rewrite of this story. So yeah, fun times, let hope that I don't burnout before the April May exam diet. Enough of my whining, you are here for story, so here is the main one. Plus write a review or PM me if you want me to continue with these mini stories every other week. Also sorry it is a little late, I have been called in early to work twice last weekend. So yeah, that happened. So I decided to put both chapters together into a massive chapter because there is no point to up load it out. o_o7**

Chapter 28: NOVA

_**1206 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Bable, New Baghdad, Euphrates Dam**_

The two Spartans ran across the abandoned vehicles towards two Hunters, leaving large dents in the rooftops as they went. Jumping between two lanes, dodging each of the heavy plasma casted rounds that attempted to strike the two of them down. They got within ten meters of the two hunters when Matthew dived forward and to the outside of the left hunter. Before jumping too the side, using his knees to re-redirect the energy back into speed by springing into the wormy body of the behemoth, with a reasonably sized block of C-12 in his hand.

Next thing he knew he was flung into the windscreen of a police car. The block of C-12 landing on the floor in front of him with his rifle and pistol, he groaned as he lifted himself up and propped up against the metal frame. _Cheeky Shit._ He thought as he stretched his back, and rolled his head. Before he knew it a large shield was coming down in front of. He quickly retracted his legs back underneath him and jumped inside the police vehicle as the bonnet crumpled under the sheer force of the oversized shield. He scrambled over the seats as the shield broke through the roof. _Don't these vehicles have shotguns in the boot?_ He though sliding his body over the back seats as the third cut made into the roof.

Matthew punched his hand through the metal covering of the NBPD cruisers small metal gun cabinet. Grabbing picking up, along with the ripped out-front panel of the gun box. He rolled over a shield came crushing down to his left down the car. He raised the weapon and fired. _Click._ _Bastard._ He fumbled over some shells, loaded three and pumped it up and down with a satisfactory _Chu-Chunk_. Sound before firing through the thin aluminium alloy and into the arm of the Hunter, who gave out a wail of distress. Matthew grabbed one of the Hunters holes and ripped the thin metal sheeting down like a tin of sardines. Raising the weapon to the worm hives neck, rupturing causing large amounts of orange, plastic smelling blood to paint the front of a black four-by-four, the creature to stumble back before collapsing onto the ground, its fuel rod cannon's green lights dimming into a dark greenish ebony.

Stumbling out, he put his hands on his back and popped his back, loosening a knot that had been forming there. Ross was currently dancing around the titan of a creature. _Well technically creatures._ He activated his radio. "Ross, can you distract him."

"Great idea numb-nuts. What are you going to kill it?"

"I killed the other one." He said, Ross gave a quick glance over to his shoulder to find the collapsed and crumpled body dented into the side of car. Its orange insides splayed across the side of the black car like a monotone Jackson Pollock painting. He turned around back at his current opponent and gave it a glance over. Looking for any weakness. Gripping the explosive firmly in his hand the Spartan ran at the Hunter headfirst. The hunter trued to swing over and hit him in the face, but ross just jumped, drop kicking the large humanoid worm creature in its metallic face, caving it in. The creature wailed, as it brought it gun arm to bat Ross to the ground, clipping his legs as they flew away from the hunter's body, causing the Spartan to twirl as he flew across the highway. Ross steadied himself using the suits internal gyroscopic systems as he landed in a not so graceful roll. But to the hunter's surprise, there was a barrel stuck inside its back.

Kelly smiled as she pulled the trigger, in the back of the behemoth as its insides sprayed out across the road, causing it to stumble forward. The lieutenant had moved so quick that she had managed to get behind the large creature, and fire a round into it. _Chu-Chunk. Bang._ Two shots. _Chu-Chunk. Bang._ Three shots. The green clad worms fell to the floor its life drained as the last few orange veiny worms gave out a final spasm before failing and dying. A large hand came on her shoulder, and gripped it in a friendly manner. "Good Job Lieutenant." Said the Spartan with B-312 written on the front. "It is not often that you see a regular ground soldier have the spend and guts to take out a Hunter at close range. Good job."

"Yes ma'am."

"Linda, Ramirez. Sit rep."

Linda's voice crackled over the radio. "Ma'am we have a large Covenant detail city side over."

"Expand upon that, over."

"We have a detail of at least thirty grunts and jackals, five brutes and ten elites, over."

"Copy. Take out as many as you can you two, just make sure that none of us are in your kill box, out." Beth cut the line. The Lieutenant Commander cocked back her rifle after loading a new magazine into the shoulder bar. She ran forward and scooped up Ross's C-12 block and threw it as hard into the crouched and ready covenant soldiers, who were ready for the UNSC soldiers to walking into their effective area of fire. A few grunts and elites attempted to step back. But the Lieutenant Commander already had Ross and Matthew on the radio. "Blow up your C-12 Ross."

"Yes ma'am." The Kiwi said as he scrolled down and selected the correct transmitter and pressed it, turning the button green from blue. The street ahead went from black to orange. The explosion causing a multitude of cars to explode, creating a small chain reaction that died as quickly as it started. The front row of grunts, dead, the second row was severely injured, but the last row had back away far enough not to be effected by the large explosion. The distraction was good enough to allow the Spartans to run and jump into the fray.

Beth jumped over the decently sized crater and brought down her battle rifles bayonet into the still half dazed Brute. Major Wells ran in from the other side of the car with Mason and Douglas. She gipped her knife and pistol, her rifle bouncing off and on her back, held in place with a small baldric. She placed the tip of her knife into the methane tank of Grunt and kicked it towards a bunch of its panicking brethren, who pulled out their plasma pistols in a panic, forgetting that they were in an oxygen environment and so accidently ignited the trail and tank of their fellow soldier, exploding in front of them. Mason, ducked around the corners of cars firing his SAW into the surprised faces of grunts and jackals. There was also a large streak of a vapour trail as a heavy-duty, super sonic, fin stabilised round pierced through the front of the face plate of an Elite major, causing the hinge-head to stumble and fall back onto the floor, dead before it even hit the ground.

Spartan-014 vaulted over one of the burning carcasses of a car, smacking a brute in the face. Removing the knife from its sheath. Ashley attempted to plunge the knife within the head of animalistic alien; she was kicked back into a car, he knife still tightly gripped in her hand. She lunged forward into it, her shoulder caving in the front armour plating, causing the internal organs to rupture. The Brute howled as it was knocked underneath the tonnage of the Spartan as the aptly named daemon brought down her pointy reckoning into the throat of the ape before twisting it violently to the left, silencing the loudest scream to the faintest gurgle. She immediately got up before an elite minor assaulted her, attempting to tackle her to the floor. She quickly dodged out the way, it turned suddenly, brandishing an energy sword. It took a swing but the Spartan made her chest concave and only have the tips of the two blades skim the top of her shield, lighting them up with sparks of gold. She quickly stepped forward and hit the bastard in the his reptilian face, its eyes not even close to reaching dilation as the glass of its visor shattered and where pierced by the mighty fist of the Spartan hammered it in with impressive force.

Kelly was quickly keeping up with the rest of them with ease. She was tagging with Douglas, who brandished his SAW with proficiency. Emptying a clip into a Brute, downing its shields, before moving onto the next one, Kelly finished them off with a shotgun blast, keeping them down for sure. Foley was on his own, he was using his secondary, an Assault Rifle, killing the grunts and jackals, though the latter were pissing him off with their shields ability to take an entire clip. _Bastards_. He thought. He slid down and picked up a plasma grenade and threw it into a bunch of regrouping grunts, their heads jerked as they saw the glowing blue ball come into their peripheral. Some ran, but by the time the blue ball had attached itself to one of them detonating on him and igniting his methane tank.

They cleared the area and were about ten meters away from the city side support tower of the New Mosel Dam. The Spartans kicked down the door when Ramirez spoke on the Radio. "We six phantoms inbound with Banshee escorts, suggest you get those AA systems up and running."

"Copy that Corporal, get both of your pretty asses out of there." Beth said as the four Spartans raced ahead of the party, wanting to get the Anti-air in operation as quickly as possible. They were surprised to find that the stairwell was able to support four Mjolnir clad super soldiers and do nothing but creak and groan. Beth removed her shot gun and peppered the centre of the upper hatch with three shots, before punching and breaking through the top and out into the desert air. The sound of the mass driver on the southern tower firing a shot pieced through the air. The vapour trail leading straight into the heart of a purple explosion as the phantom detonated, its ionized fuel cooked its insides along with its crew. The sound of plasma casters and cannons filled the air as it attempted to take out the cannon. The amethyst coloured energy ball flew over the Spartans heads and narrowly missed the tower, the mass driver returning the favour by taking it out. The AA machine guns peppered and began taking out each of banshees, but they were still closing in. The phantoms flew over the group of super soldiers, descending on the highway.

Beth fiddled around with control panel, typing in her Section-Three override code, and pressing activate on the display. The AA guns began firing, but the mass driver had just started its five-second checks before spinning around to face the four remaining phantoms. Beth heard the spin up, and then it died off. She glanced at the screen, the words 'magazine jammed' blazing out at her in red irritated her. She ran a quick search on how the experimental device should be fixed. But the search came up with blanks. _Fuck it_. She punched the injection hatch for the Mass round before restarting the machine.

_Woosh, Bang._

The log of iron and tungsten ejected itself at speeds above Mach three and into the heart of one of the drop ships, the momentum rocking it into the side of another one before its explosion engulfed both ships, the combined Anti-Air fire dropped the Banshees like flies, orange tracer fire lighting up the purple ships as they attempted to fire their Fuel Rod Cannons at the two towers. "Take that you religious nut-jobs." Matthew cheered.

"Keep your cool Matt. We still have a city full of them to take out." Ross said looking over the shadow covered city centre. "Why haven't they started glassing the city yet?"

"I don't know. I think they are looking for something."

"Yes, I understand that, but you would think that two cruisers worth of Covenant troops would have found what they were looking for already."

"Don't give the Covenant that much credit, it has only been around two hours."

The radio crackled. "Linda to Survivor One and White One, last of the covenant ground forces have been eliminated requesting orders, over."

"Regroup with Ramirez at our position. Out."

_**1216 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, UNSC Berlin, Bridge**_

"Sir we are losing all power on the lower decks, suggest we abandon ship."

The admiral sighed. "Latimer, set a course for the heart of the reserve covenant fleet."

"Sir?"

"Do it." He grabbed the microphone. "This is the Admiral to all UNSC personnel on the UNSC Berlin, abandon ship, scramble all vehicles and get planet side." The staff all looked at one another.

"Yes sir." Said Jackson and Blatt, standing up and saluting the Admiral

"Sidamo, grab Lieutenant Colonel Masters, he is going to get your ass off this ship."

"Sir, you don't plan to go down with the ship?"

"Indeed I am, after all I am the only one here with the authorisation to use Section Three's new toy. Have engineering send it down to Nerve Centre Charlie."

"Yes sir." The AI saluted

"Course set." Latimer said standing up. "It has been an honour sir. Shall I take Sidamo down to the runway?"

"One moment lieutenant. Sidamo get all controls sent down to nerve centre Charlie."

"Done. Sir, good luck. I have left a rudimentary AI in the nerve centre to allow you some control over the ship. Basic navigation and movement should be available."

"Thank you." He removed the chip from the side of his command chair. He turned to the officer. "Take it." He grabbed the crystal chip. "Dismissed." He saluted his Commanding Officer; he walked out the room before then jumping into a run. The Admiral smiled softly as he walked down the slowly quietening hallways, the last stragglers picking up what they could and shutting down all non-essential systems. He ran his hands over the metal panelling remembering how often the engineers had to take it off and get repair the geriatric of a vessel. _Yes, she hasn't done the worst for her age. Part of every naval ship commanders training since before the start of the war. You deserve to go out with a bang._ He pressed the button on the elevator, descending to Deck Delta before making his way into the large room, stacked with rack upon rack of computer components, liquid cooling tubes and screens, he saw the lone operator seat in the middle. He took it and pulled it back, plopping himself unceremoniously on the padded wheelie chair. A note left next to a bottle of whisky and a glass and what seemed like a cigar and a box of matches.

He opened the letter as a plasma torpedo hit the ship, a few error messages popping, but most importantly the number of ships left on board reached zero. He grabbed the bottle before it toppled over. "Turn on Camera's Papa-Alpha and Papa-Charlie." The six large screens flickered on, showing the Admiral a large panorama of the Covenant fleet about one hundred and twenty thousand kilometres off the surface of the planet. "Fire all MAC and SMAC rounds, activate emergency braking thruster, before slipping behind enemy fleet." He locked down the seat magnetically to the floor. "Execute."

The sudden reverse acceleration caused the Admiral to grip the table. The salvo of multiple MAC and SMAC round pounded out the front of the ship. Then the chemical thrusters ignited and fired before the slipspace portal opened. One of the many things that the Admiral had learnt from his many students was that since slipping was harder for larger ships, it means that they can drop out with greater ease, allowing large ships to create clever techniques to jump behind the enemy, a strategy that the covenant were commonly known to do. Just as quickly as he went in, he went out. But in enough time for him to pour the alcohol, he looked at the label but his eyes nearly popped out, two hundred year old Arcadian Nova Scotia Glen Fruin, the whole ship must have chipped in for this. "Turn about, then activate emergency accelerators straight into covenant fleet reserves." He took a sip as the Covenant ships suddenly tried to attack his ship. "Fire all you have into them." He picked up the data-pad and put it to his left before he looked up at the note the crew left him.

_Admiral Henderson._

_I hope you enjoy what we left you. When we all heard you were retiring, the entire system fleet was shocked. After years of extensive service to the UNSC, everyone from Rates to Officers, and some of the Civvies and Air Force, decided to go all out for you. Enjoy the finest Whisky that the Colonies offer, over a thousand credits a bottle, and a cigar that we had especially got you all the way from Earth, it is an actual Cuban. We hope your retirement will be as successful as your time her over Babel._

_Farewell sir._

_The crew of the Berlin Battlegroup and the officers of the Sandhurst Fleet_

_P.S. You have decided to stay behind and go down with the ship, before you ask, Sidamo told us. So we decided you may as well enjoy the show. I have no idea what section three has cooked up, but I can tell it is going to be a blast, no pun intended, and farewell sir. _

_Chief Petty Officer Carson and Ensign O'Hara._

A smile grew on the Admiral's face. "E-band transmission. Direct transmission towards enemy fleet." He waited for the light in the top left of the display go green. "Visual and audio. Transmission start." He cleared his throat, grabbing the cigar he cut the top with and engineers knife and poured himself a new glass. He sat down in his chair, striking a match and lighting the tip of the cigar, the lights flickering as the ship continued to get hit. The readouts on the errors got longer with every passing second, but the UNSC built their ships to last. He undid the front of his uniform, cigar in hand alcohol in the other.

"This is Rear Admiral Henderson of the United Nations Space Command's Defence Force, and Navy. It has come to my attention that you wish to remove us from existence, and that, as you probably understand, does conflict with our own opinions and justly so." He took a puff from the cigar. "I will give you the chance to run out of this system and bugger off. I will be generous and give you thirty seconds to comply." He looked up at the clock. "For you see, I am currently flying straight towards you, my ship will undoubtedly cause a large amount of damage as it rams inside the heart of one of your Super-carriers with my own Heavy-carrier. But this may be the last breaths I take, so I would like to read you poetry, I am a big fan of Lewis Carroll, with his work _The Hunting of the Snark_, with the infamous Bandersnatch. Yes the Bandersnatch. But I digress." He picked up the tablet next to him. "I prefer the poem by Dylan Thomas." He chuckled. "I can't believe I am reading poetry to the enemies of mankind." He shook his head. Swiping his ID, across the pad, he put in his facial, iris and fingerprint security measures. "Admiral Frank Henderson, Service number N-FH-RCH-60298." The tablet went green, leaving him to type the four-number pin-code into the keypad.

He poured himself another glass, a smile growing on his face. Taking a sip he began to recite the poem.

Do not go gentle into that good night,  
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,  
Because their words had forked no lightning they  
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright  
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,  
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,  
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight  
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,  
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.  
Do not go gentle into that good night.  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

With he punched in the numbers. He raised his glass before his clicked 'Activate', his eyes closed and at peace. Plasma rounds were ripping up the ships insides, but in a matter of second the bomb detonated. Its super heated core compressed by multiple thermonuclear warheads, to create an atom of neutron star densities with combined nuclear force of eighty three thousand, two hundred and three Tsar Bombs, or one point two petatons or one point two billion megatons. Turning the covenant fleet into atomized bits, the electromagnetic pulse dropping their shields shut down only to be caked in the light of a thousand stars.

The moon of Babel, Gilgamesh, had been hit by the blast, causing the dark side to glow as it began to melt under the sheer power of the nuclear blast, the entire reserve fleet was removed from the map, along side the _Berlin._ The blast met the UNSC and fighting covenant forces after three seconds, but by then, the most it did was cause the fusion reactors to jump a cycle and cause the lights to flicker.

_**1225 hours, 30 September 2550 (Military Calendar) / Gliese 588, Bable, New Baghdad, Motorway-35**_

The rag tag team of soldiers, of both the super and regular variety, looked up at the sky, the bright shining second sun lit the sky with its bright radiance. It was about late afternoon on the planet, but seeing the bright light from the side of the moon, like a solar eclipse kept the entire team and almost everyone on the planet shocked and rooted to where they were standing.

The only thing going through the Lieutenant Commanders head was. _What the fuck was that._


	29. Interlude III (The Gunnery Sergeant II)

**MDAM- This is the penultimate chapter for the gunnery sergeant, the last one will be a lot of fun to write, expect large explosions with Scarabs and Hunters and lots, lots more. I know you may think this chapter may be somewhat lacking, but I am really busy this weekend and I had to rattle this out on free school periods, Burns Suppers (and its hangovers), as well as some volunteer work. I would like to ask you lot about whether it would be a good idea to supplement this series with a Codex of sorts, where I put in all relating articles characters, military procedures, weapons, armour, ships and events. If you support this idea, give me a PM or reviews. But enough of me, enjoy the chapter. MDAM out. o_o7 **

C29: Interlude III (The Gunnery Sergeant II)

The four bangs of magnetic locks disconnecting echoed through the lower levels of the base. The gunnery sergeant looked over the HUD of the Mark V Exoskeleton, trying to make sense out of the lines of scrolling text, which just confused the man further. "Could you eggheads make this crap understandable, all I see is a bunch of words, forward slashes and semi colons with no grammatical logic or reason."

"Have you tried turning it on. That is just a data log. Check for a small button on the inside wall of the arm" Slightly embarrassed, Aurora one moved his hand inside the arm to a small button, clicking it the lines of code was replaced with a clear and crisp looking, aqua coloured, wireframe HUD. "Okay Gunnery Sergeant move your hands into their respective slots, and wait for the light in the top left of the screen to go green. Then hunch your shoulders, and take a deep breath."

Aurora one moved his fingers into the gloves on the inside of the machine, the light turned and he shrugged. Suddenly the back of the machine slid around the back of the Marine. The cushioning padding pressing tightly to his body, followed by increased pressure around his arms and legs, his head still had plenty of room to the helmet felt awfully claustrophobic. He hitched his breath, as the machine pressed his uniform to his body.

"Try move your fingers first, and slowly tap the top of the button to your side, you will feel pressure from the tactile feedback system. The button will release the suit from its frame." The thick, metal fingers moved slowly and smoothly, he moved the arms up and down with a fluid grace that surprised not only him, but the science team too, making him silently grumble. _What did I get myself into?_ He groaned as both of his arms reached the sides of the large yellow and black titanium support frame, clicking the large button for release.

"Bugger." He though as he stumbled into the ground, the large exoskeleton nearly tumbling into the ground, however the large mechanical arms quickly grabbed the sides of the frame and the rebar-concrete support beams. He clicked his chin into a button in the helmet base, opening a voice channel. "Next time warn me that the only piece of equipment that will get us out alive hang in the air, do you want this crap damaged or what!?"

"Well it seems that you have the jist of arm movement, now take a step forward."

Pushing angry words to the back of his head he took a cautionary step forward, his movements slightly accelerated by the suit, but still slow enough for his reflexes to catch up with the system. Each step was slow, the yellow dots on this motion tracker moving slightly around him. "Is everything going straight to plan?"

"Better actually, looks like movement calibrations are up to scratch. Now attempt to arm the fifty-cal machine gun." The Amir suggested.

"You do realise that I have no idea how to do that. This is my first flight and all."

"Sorry, I am used to dealing with trained personnel."

"Shut up and tell me how to use this thing." Aurora one shot back."

"Bring down the machine gun from behind your back, that would arm the gun the light in the bottom the ammunition count next to the weapon icon will light up from a dark blue to the standard HUD colour. The same goes for the Smart rocket deployment system, though that requires use of the voice activation system. You can also pull down a high velocity, explosive forty-mike-mike rifle."

"Got it. Grab, pull down, point and shoot. Thanks Doc." He slowly walked down towards the door. "How much ammunition is in this thing?" He asked.

"Enough to get through a battalion of covenant troops." Amir continued, typing into the keypad. "Before you ask how you would last that long, I hope you noticed the bar at the top of the HUD. That is energy shielding."

"Wait, what?" Aurora Four looked baffled, looking up at his commanding NCO. "Like the Spartans armour."

"Yes, but this is a bigger, dumbed down and less expensive version. Hence why we need this data off world. Imagine the possibilities if all scorched earth teams had a bunch of these on their team." Farris stated.

"That would undoubtedly turn the tide of the war in our favour." Jamal said, chipping into the conversation as the blast door opened into the atrium. The large armour thumping against the floor, a smile growing on Aurora one's face. Jamal, stepped up to the main door that led back to the computer core room and the entrance. "One this is open, it is all up to you. Note that you have six C-12 grenades at your side as well as a few flares and smoke grenades. And also try not scratch the paint." He said slapping the side of the black leg.

Getting into a crouched position the black titan, grabbed the large machine gun from his back and aimed it down the centre of the white blast door, a large orange, molten ring around the seal at the bottom. He clicked his chin against the button on his left side. "Target reticule, activate VISR systems, and highlight enemy troops." The system took a second to respond. _Seems like there are a few bugs still to iron out._ He thought, but the familiar green highlighting scanned the room ahead and a small blue blank centred cross in the middle formed on the top right of the screen. "Everybody, get to cover."

The ring in the centre completed was cut, the four clamps removed themselves, and an Elite Major kicked the cut titanium A. Its eyes suddenly dilated as a the large forty millimetre round was fired, the super sonic round hit its reptilian face, the explosive round detonating on impact, sending chard remains across the tight bottlenecked chamber between a number of blast doors. The gunnery sergeant watched and smiled as the grunts, jackals, brutes and elites eyes widened. He stood up, as the grunts attempted to flee, screaming 'daemon'. He took a step, followed by another, and another, his legs a blur, his hands in a diving position peeling back the heat weakened blast door, peeling it back as if it were foil rather than ten centimetre thick ship hull metal. The shots of plasma hitting his shields, causing them to flare up as he pulled down and fired his machine gun, the three sets of three barrels started spinning the moment that he brought it down, its liquid nitrogen cooling system began pumping as the large number of rounds spewed forth fire.

The bullets ripped through the pitiful defences put up by the enemy. It piercing through shields of the unsuspecting covenant forces, pockmarks littering the multi coloured wall of blood. One opened a channel to Four. "Get behind me and keep any stragglers dead. Also ask one of them to get the blast doors open; I can't be arsed ripping through each of these blast doors."

"Yes sir. Aurora Four out."

The blast doors began slowly creaking open. The marine stuck his hands through the doors, ripping them open now that the locks had been disengaged, sliding each of them unceremoniously, testing the suits hydraulic and motor systems, the screech of metal against metal, followed by a thud as the hands clasped the next door, caused the anticipating covenant to shudder as the metal boots got louder and closer. A grunt coming in with two plasma grenades attempted to assault the heavily armours marine, getting a calculated kick through the next and ultimate hole, detonating in second, causing some of the hunted hunters to flinch. The covenant place down three plasma turrets in anticipation of the large bulk of a human soldier, who's hidden eyes were filled with a concoction of hatred, anger, insanity and strangely pleasure as he ripped open the final door and the barrage of blue, purple and green plasma hit his shielding.

His grin growing as he put the exosuit to the test, ramming its jagged metal shoulder into the face of a very unfortunate brute, snapping the gorilla like creature's neck. He kicked a grunt in its face, squashing it, he grabbed the elite on the closest plasma turret and rammed its long face against the wall with his left hand, at the same time brining down his machine gun again firing it into a group of jackals as they attempted to pieces his shields, but the sheer amount of firepower decimated the six birds. The behemoth quickly snapped the elites neck, dropping its lifeless body to the floor, before sprinting behind wall, watching the bar at the top of his HUD slowly refill and the shimmer of gold as the shields came back to life. One word came to mind. _Nice_.

He still, pulled out one of the C-12 grenades he was give. "Fire in the hole." He radioed, throwing the small charge into the room's centre. The red light blinking rapidly as it detonated, the room engulfed in smoke, tripping the fire alarm in the process, but not before the fireball scorched the room with an explosive force. The massive bulk of man and metal stepped from behind the metal support wall, to face the scientist and two marines. "One question Farris."

"What?" The scientist asked as the water from the fire suppression system beginning to fall on the group.

"Can I keep it?"

"No." He said. The response was a light-hearted groan as the suits shoulders drooped into poor posture. "You shouldn't technically know about this remember. But it is good that it out preforms our expectations." He walked over to the keypad, unlocking it for access the main elevator shaft. The blast doors screeched open as the Aurora one walked through, trying to be careful not to tread on the bodies of the fallen, though Aurora four did pick up some barrels for his SAW that the first two layers of marine protection used. They made it into a large cylindrical concrete repurposed IPBM silo which reached a hundred meters up where a large blast-proof hatch was left moved halfway across the facility surface. The large industrial cage elevator stood on the far side.

"How will I get the suit up, I doubt that the elevator could hold this much weight, even with you guys all off."

"Use the jet pack feature, but for the record, it has a tendency to over heat and malfunction after prolonged use." Jamal stated.

"Got it. I take it is voice activated." He asked receiving a nod in reply. "Jetpack, activate." The sound of turbines spinning up and the groan of the superheated air as it escaped the back vents of the suit. "Get going. I'll clear the way." He said jumping in the air. "Land of surface." He said, hoping that the machine would understand the command. The blue flames flared as the machine flew onto out of the silo like a rocket, and landed to a large battle number of covenant forces. _Bugger._


	30. Into the City

**MDAM- Hey, its late again. But can you blame a man when he has an English exam in the mix, but I digress. Here it is, I plan to go deeper into the whole Clone arc once we are in the city centre, also the next chapter will be the final interlude for the Gunnery sergeant. I am thinking about transferring all of my interludes once the story is finished into a separate story with the title like, "Stories of Sandhurst: Dreams amongst the Glass, or something else cringe worthy. Also if you want a metal image for the flood channel, just see the ones in Los Angeles. Also just for the record, if you are Squeamish, you may not like the final quarter of the story, but this is an aspect of the human-covenant war that we have only seen once before (in canon materials, see Halo Evolutions: The Return)**

C30: Into the city

The team looked up, as the afternoon sky was flooded with aurora, as a stream of electrons and hit the planet. The waves danced across the surface of the sky, shimmering purple green and red as it ionised the atmosphere. The large starfish ball of energy and Milton covenant alloy flew across the sky like a hundred thousand stars. The moons side was glowing orange as the sheer amount of energy melted the surface. The HUD of her Mjolnir was still stuttering as the stream of electrons tried to fry her electronics. The sights of their battle rifles were toast. But they could see the covenant cruisers in the distance jolt slightly, their engines having to reboot as the reactors skipped a couple cycles.

Every street light flashed and exploded as the EMP hit, they the radios let out a final squeal before the speakers components melted and the aerial fused itself together. The ODST's removed their helmets quickly, rubbing their eyes; their unprotected HUD bathed the wearer in light before the filaments broke. "Fuck me! Shit that hurt." Mason exclaimed. "Jesus H Christ, the fuck was that?"

"I am going to guess that was a nuke." Matthew said, standing in awe of the light show before them.

"What sort of nuke melts half a moon and half a covenant fleet?"

"A big one. Sergeant, now if I am not mistake, we still have a mission to accomplish." Beth said.

"But the nuke? How can you act so calm about this?"

"Three letters. ONI. This is the second time I have seen one of those ones detonate, though it looks much more pretty from the ground than space I must say."

"Wait you know about it?" Foley asked.

"Gunnery Sergeant, you helped us deliver it to the Admiral."

"I was within a meter of that."

"I am pretty sure Ramirez stubbed his toe on the crate at one point." Mason said.

"That, I have to say, puts the Covenants glassing to shame. Sine when have had the ability to melt the surface of a moon in a single blast?"

"About six months." Beth said, the aurora looking like it wasn't thing to waver anytime soon, she made a decision. "We have a job to do, let's get moving." The team made themselves down the off ramp of the motorway and into a suburban area, about ten kilometres out from the Central Business District where the AI would be stored. They ran into gardens, over (or for the Spartans, through) fences, through houses and down abandoned streets. There were large amounts of clothing, strewn across the streets as discarded suitcases where left open, rummaged through by looters.

The Major looked over the area with disgust. "To think at in a crisis like this, people can still be disgusting enough to take what doesn't belong to them."

"It is not like they are going to be using it anyway, ma'am." Mason said.

"But still, a bit of respect would be nice." She sighed, the team made down a pedestrian pathway that lead down into another caul de sac of middle class housing, a similar image lay before them. "So Senior Petty Officer, what is your story?"

"Classified, ma'am."

"A name at least, I am not keen on calling you, 014, Spartan thingy, or petty officer."

"Classified ma'am."

Beth turned around. "It is the same as yours major, she is called Ashley. And petty officer it is rude to use the fact we are ONI, to hold back a little chit chat."

"Thank you commander." The major said.

"Ma'am, I think we shouldn't be talking, it doesn't aid concealment." Matthew said, the group exited the small ally way, forming a tactical crescent shape. "Area clear."

"Move on up, we are taking the next left, that should take us into the emergency flood channels." Beth suggested, the team set. Off east, hugging a line of cars for cover as the reached the side of one hundred metre wide open flood channel that led straight into the New Euphrates river. It was fifteen meters deep; with a ten metre wide extruded channel in the middle, still with a film of water on top, lay at the bottom, flanked by two increase flats, each with a width of ten metres. The group stayed glued to the side of the jersey barriers and wire fences that bordered the channel, they also kept low, reducing the likelihood of getting spotted by enemy troops.

"Stop," Douglas said from the front, "I see movement up ahead."

"What's going on?" Beth asked, before a group of six phantoms flew overhead, the sounds of their engines slowing down before coming to an eventual halt.

"Looks like they are trying to set up a perimeter before UNSC ground forces get in."

"And that is why we are going under them." Matthew stated. We are going to use the flood channels that runs straight under the CBD that also acts as the heat exchanger system for the city's AI core cooling operations."

"Will the AI still be operational, with the EMP?" Mason asked.

"They are designed to withstand a direct hit from a four hundred and forty five megaton nuclear explosive. The EMP from that close a range would, fry anything, but the circuit breakers and faraday cages it is built around will keep it safe." Kelly answered.

"Why four, four, five megatons?"

Beth replied. "All UNSC small nuclear munitions are based off of the WB88 thermonuclear warheads, which are the easiest to find on the black market."

Matthew turned to Beth. "Weren't WB88's used by the Royal Navy in the twenty first?"

"Yeah they were used with the T-II missile system." Ross stated.

Foley looked at the group of them. "Care to tell me why a bunch of super-soldiers need to know about five hundred year old..."

"Five fifty."

"Okay, five hundred and fifty year old nukes used by a now only ceremonious part of a obsolete military?"

"You read a lot a bit nukes when you are dealing with them for nearly a year. Also, we are all British. Doesn't the accent tell you any different?"

Matthew changed his accent to cockney. "Ello, Ello, Ello. What's goin on 'ere then."

Ross joined in. "Awright Gov'na. Na need to botha dis chimney sweep."

The major stepped in. "Speaking like him is bad enough, but if you start singing like Dick Van Dyke, I will put this rifle so far up your ass, I'll be able to snipe through your nose."

"Matt, shut up, you're Scottish, not from the fucking east end of London. Ross, you aren't even British, you a bloody Kiwi."

"Sorry, ma'am." They both said, a slight mocking tone in their voice.

Linda turned to Ramirez. "I thought Spartans were supposed to be stoic, heroic super soldiers without feeling?"

"That may be the case with propaganda, but Matt and Ross, they are as human as you can get, though they can drink you under the table, I lost a lot of money during training."

They came to a corner of the flood channel, were a smaller subterranean one led into the centre of the city, Kelly hopped over the concrete barrier and slid down the forty-five degree concrete wall, splashing down into a solid inch of water, quickly followed by the ten others, turning into the dark tunnel. Mason sighed. "Why does there always have to be a dark scary tunnel? Especially with our VISR broken."

"Quick your whining, cry baby, you are going in. Either willingly or with my boot up your hoo-ha." Foley said. "Ramirez! Flares up."

The Spartans switched their still operational night vision on; the airmen stuck on the dim red lights attached onto their BDU's, the ODST's striking the chemical sticks igniting them to give off a red spark full light. The Spartans attached a single, metal rimmed, glow stick to the magnetic grenade holster on their hips, showing them that they were friendly.

The team waded through the lukewarm, knee-deep, stagnant water. The heat from the dying day mixed with the humidity, made the journey especially unpleasant, but that wasn't what made Douglas and Linda fall back in fear. "Shit." Linda shouted. "No, fuck this, fuck that." She blurted out, Douglas throwing up.

"Warrant officer, Lieutenant, what is goin…" Major Wells asked, the red light from he L-shaped light flew over to where they were standing. _What the fuck!_ She said, attempting not to puke herself. The bodies of civilians, floated in the warm water, their blood mixing with the water as their bodies began to decompose, the skin scared black from plasma burns or from the perfect environment for bacteria to develop.

Mason, Foley and Ramirez attached their helmets back on, and created a manual seal before opening the small filtered air hole. Shaddock and Wells grabbed the filter masks that were inside their med kits, alongside sterile rubber gloves, an act followed quickly by Linda after stabilising herself, and Douglas regurgitating the last of his lunch. The Spartans took one for the team, moving the bits of body away, creating a path for the ODST's and airmen. They read the signs for location reference. "Looks like this is it." Beth said, talking about a ledge and staircase that led into one of the service tunnels, similar to the ones she used on Mars. The team got into the tight claustrophobic tunnels, Mason and Douglas on ether end, their SAWs trained and ready to take out anything that was stupid enough to pop its sorry head out. They came to a corner where a large majority of the overhead wires turned.

Mason popped his head around the corner. "Shit, a dead end. The roof has collapsed."

Beth sighed. "Looks like we are going onto the surface."

"But wont that be flooded with covenant patrols?"

"It will be. But we only need to go up for two minuets, and get down the next service hatch one hundred metres down the street."

"Sounds like a plan. Go ahead." The major said. The group made to a ladder that was ten metres behind them.

"Ladies first." Douglas offered to Linda.

"Age before beauty." She retorted, her face still pale from the recent encounter, and not in the mood for the banter, the blood saturated water still on her arms.

Douglas climbed the metal ladder, slowly pushing the top open, revealing a shadow draped road. He scanned the area quickly. No feet, no wraiths, no ghosts and not revenants. "Ground clear, removing the cover." He pushed the metal plate open and climbed out, scanning the surrounding buildings for snipers. "Area all clear. Move on up." The group quickly filed out, forming a defensive circle around the manhole.

"Mason out." The sergeant did a quick head count. "That's all of us."

"Copy." Beth said before the team ran next to a storefront and towards a large financial building. Their backs kept to the wall. There was a large screech as a pair of banshees came around for a patrol. "Shit. Move! Move! Move!" She shouted, the Major tripped, Ashley picked her by the scruff of her BDU.

"Can't have you die now, ma'am." A banshee Fuel Rod round blasted in front of the pair, the rest of the team looked back. "We will catch up, GO!" She the picked up the Major in her arms and ran into the nearest building. Tapping the radio. "Complete the mission, we will get around we just need to lose the heat. The major needs some medical help anyway, that will just slow you down."

Beth sighed over the radio. "Good luck."

"Lets hope we don't need it."


	31. Mirror

**MDAM- It has been a month since I have uploaded any content in any of my stories. But I am finally back churning out a large monstrosity of a chapter (****one****out of three)**** as my body slowly gets back into it circadian rhythm with me being in five different countries in the space of a week. It is hard trying to get back into my weekly writing cycle once you are out of it for a prolonged period of time, but I hope this massive dump of writing is up to scratch as I am writing this all on sleep deprivation, cold medication and a lack of internet (yay, no fact checking capabilities), just me with my shitty ITunes library and half a bottle of lemon Ice Tea. But I digress; these past few weeks have been hellish (and are likely to get worse) with me having to complete assignments and folios for the end ****of this school term (24th of March)****. I also have to catch up on the two weeks worth of backlog from my trips abroad by doing working in my Friday coffee shop and weekend writing slots as well as all the free time I have available in the mountains of Italy. I hope this isn't to bad and of course,**** MDAM out. o_o7**

C31: Mirror

"Ashley, it's time for bed." Her mother said, looking at the blonde girl sitting on the couch before her. Watching the ten o'clock news on the television, the news report about some terrorist activities on one of the outer colonies, another suicide bombing, another handful of casualties of war.

"Mum! Please! Half an hour extra." The six year old said in a huff.

"No, it is the weekend but when you get older, I may be more lenient, but we have to go see grandma tomorrow and we need to be up early."

"Fine." She got up and ran upstairs; her mum crossed her arms and shook her head.

"A little harsh Joe. I believe." Said someone behind her as two arms snaked around her waist. "We aren't setting off until twelve tomorrow."

She sighed. "I know Frank, but I didn't want her to watch all that commotion on the television. It is not suitable for someone that old to watch a person blow himself or herself up. It just seems that the world is turning into a mess, I wish someone would do anything to stop this mindless violence." She sighed turning around to him. "How do you think she would cope with tomorrow, with seeing your mother, with the possibility of her not remembering who she is, or even you or me."

"I don't know. All we can do is hope for the best." She kissed her on the head. "She should be getting out the bathroom now." He two of them walked up stairs as their child wriggled into her bed. Pulling the covers up. "Night sweetie."

"Good night dad." She said as her mum tucked her in and kissed her head. "Night mum."

"Sleep tight." She said walking away, switching off the lights as she left the room. "See you in the morning." She closed the door behind her. Leaving the girl in the room tucked up and comfortable in her warm room.

She was always a light sleeper, so when she heard the door of her room open, she sleepily pushed herself up. "Mum?" She asked. The shadowy figure halted its movement, and then in a blur the figure darted on top of her. She scrambled out of bed as fast as she could, the shadow landed on he bed and cursed.

She ran down the stairs and saw both her parents asleep on the floor, in their nightwear. Another black clad person standing at the bottom, their face filled with surprise before reaching for a holstered weapon, but Ashley slid down the banister and into the woman, knocking her to the floor, before opening the door and running into the cold night air, her legs moving as quickly as possible.

The Spartan ran as fast as she could. Flying down the stairs of the underground multi-story car park with the body of a bleeding out major in her hands. The body of a major who replaced her. The body of a major who was her own clone. She thought as she ran to the nearest emergency relief box. _I could leave her to die, right here right now, so get what she deserves._ She quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of her head. _I can't be wishing for this on a fellow officer of the UNSC._ Disciplined her self mentally. _It is not like it is her fault, she didn't ask for this, she is just like me, a pawn in the games of war, used and tossed aside like everyone else in the programme. She was a child just like me, put into a horrible situation with a low chance of survival hers even lower than mine._ She placed the body slowly against the concrete back wall of the car park, before typing the emergency access code into the cache's pin pad.

She ripped out the first aid kit and opened it roughly looking over the contents briefly. She looked at the dozed off major, her head nodding softly to and fro as if she were drugged. She loosened the strap of the body armour, the half melted ceramic chest piece falling the hands of the Spartan who laid it to the side before looking at the scorched under-armour. She decided to unzip the front of it to see the damage on the skin, cutting off the plasma scared Kevlar-carbon poly-weave shirt. To her dismay, the shirt material remained stuck to her chest. "Shit." She rummaged through the green bag and grabbed a pair of laser cut medical scissors and a shot of level seven anaesthetic, level ten being the weakest and one the strongest. She injected it into the major's exposed left arm, under the rolled up light and dark tan camouflage pattern shirt. The Major winced slightly as the needle entered, injected and removed itself from her arm, but not enough to fully awaken her.

She waited a few moments for the chemicals to do their work as loosened off the other pieces of the officer's armour. Helmet, shoulder, knee and thigh pads, all came off. She grabbed a CO2 expanding head rest and inflated it, placing it on the floor and slowly resting the major on top, in a gentle way not often associated with Spartans. The Spartan looked at the black and red marked shirt and sighed. "Keep it together 014, treat her like any other downed soldier." She thought, but immediately recoiled at the thought. What would she have done had this been any other soldier? Would she have really stayed behind and helped them? Or would she have left them back in the dust like the cannon fodder some of the officers, and fellow Spartans, saw the marines, airman, seamen and soldiers of the armed forces? Was she only helping this officer, who she had only met a few hours ago, because she didn't want to see the faces of her parents as she handed them that light blue UN flag into their hands, watching them cry down at her feet as they looked down upon by the tall unflinching soldier who looks just like their fallen daughter, and technically is. These thoughts and feeling going through her head here confusing at best as she cut around the solidified and charred fabric. She got it all off, and removed the shirt, leaving the top half of the body almost completely exposed and began to get to work.

She stopped when she heard a faint giggle and saw two crystal clear blue eyes looking down at her. "You trying to take advantage of a handicapped soldier, petty officer?"

Ashley met her eyes through a depolarized visor, giving a clearly disapproving look. "No ma'am, please keep your head back and let me remove this material and stop the bleeding."

"You're no fun." She said, letting the petting officer continue cutting out the remaining cauterised flesh as she reached around to grabbed the bio foam and placed the nozzle into the wound and began closing the wound. The anaesthetic had worked as it seemed to have localised itself around the wound, but still allowed the patient to be awake if they so wish to be. The major looked up into the ceiling. "So, petty officer. Tell me about yourself."

"Nothing much I can tell you without breaking ONI rules ma'am."

"Even for a major in the AFISA Section Charlie."

"You're an officer of the Air Force Intelligence and Security Agency?"

"Yes, that was me spilling a secret, tell me one of yours?"

"I am tiered of this game already."

"A secret, Ashley, not the obvious."

"I have blonde hair and blue eyes. You already know more than even half the officers I have served under."

"But that is not a secret is it?"

"It is, because Spartans are often used for clandestine affairs. I believe that is two secrets, wait, three secrets I have spilled."

"I'll give you this one, but only because you lot are sneaky enough to walk around a caffeine high brute in that suit of armour. Cheeky Devil." The petty officer sighed internally. Clearly the blood loss had gone to her head. _Good thing we are the same type then._ She slid the needle into the port in her arm, before using the same plastic port that the anaesthetic needle and used the fluctuating pressure build and release of her muscles as she activated the system in her helmet, this allowed for easy blood transfusions in the field. "You and I have a lot in common, both of us have similar accents, suggesting that you area from one of the colonies in the Elysium system, sounds like a New Chester accent to me." She pried.

"I didn't grow up in that system."

"But you must have spent some time there, or at least have some team mates with the accent to pick it up. Unless of course you are from the Manchester area on Earth."

"I am not from the central system."

"C'mon, cant two super soldiers talk amongst one another."

"Pardon ma'am?"

"Oops, let that one slip."

"Kind of, yes."

"Well as all of us are AFISA agents, we all go under a medical, turns out that myself Kelly, Douglas, Jerome, and I, as well as a few others who went through the same procedures as us all have a very special gene in our system," _Crap, they went trough the same filter as us,_ "and we where selected for a number of low and mid level augmentations, nothing deadly or crippling, regulations prohibit that." The one-pint alarm blared, and the pumping system shut down and the tube cleared of the crimson liquid. "Turns out that there has been a lot of research into the field of augmentations, I guess I have you guys to thank."

"How did you join the intelligence branch?"

"Well we all had high grades, you know having nothing else to do as your body tries to not shut itself down. And when it came to signing up, we all passed our physical, some of us still had adverse systems of MCS, metabolic cascade syndrome, like Jorge and Ahmed, they got desk jobs in the air force. But the four of us, we all got advanced field work and with our enhancements and training, we did a lot of under the radar work."

"But why the air force, not the navy, army intelligences?"

"Because we were reached out to by the air force, before the other tried to get us to conscript to their forces. I don't know why, but they all seemed very keen on getting us into their intelligence networks. Now that I look back at it, it was kind of creepy." She said with a frown. The tube now completely removed form her arm. "But it might have just been our straight A's and the fact that and Alice managed to hack into smart AI protected systems when she was sixteen." She burst out laughing but quickly winced in pain. "You should have seen her face when the AFMP's showed up in our hospital wing."

"I could imagine."

"She was a wonderful girl."

"What happened?"

"Classified."

"I see."

"So, what are your parents like?"

"I don't know anymore."

"Ah. Touchy subject?"

"You have no idea how much right now." She said, sitting down next to her, removing the helmet.

"Have I seen you before?" She asked, slightly stirred out by the mirror like glance they gave on another. "You look a lot like my mother."

"Joe Wells. Wife to Francis Wells, twenty eight Newall Terrace, New Chester, Elysium."

"Yeah, okay, I am going to ignore how you know the details of my parents…"

"Francis Wells, Job, labourer company manager after retiring from military service, he says that it was because he didn't like killing other humans, but we both know it is because he gave an accidental order to bomb an enemy stronghold to only find it was housing innocent non-combatants."

"How do you know all this?"

"He also had to kill a child, her hands clawing from underneath the rubble, but she had lost too much blood, her screams echoed around the collapsed walls, and he knew she wouldn't survive. So he did the next best thing, he ended the misery by overloading her systems with level one delocalized anaesthetic. She went to sleep, with him slowly singing a peaceful song as she drifted off for the last time." Ashley said.

"How do you know that?" The major said, a stern level of harshness in her voice. "He never put that in the report, I have seen it myself, my secrecy level is high enough too."

"I am about to break at lot of rules in a moment. This is something I have not done since I was put into training since I was six. Sorry ma'am."

"What is going on?"

The Spartans eyes where empty as she removed the new syringe. "You." She ran her gauntlet-clad hand through her hair. "You, stole EVERYTHING I loved, they kissed me as I went to sleep, and they hugged me when I was sad, you stole my life."

"What do you…" she was interrupted.

"You are a Clone, a copy, a vacuum used to hide the evidence of my kidnapping. Why are both called Ashley, hm?" She said standing up. "Why are we identical in looks? Why can you only remember information from after the age of six? Why is it that I know the deep secrets of your father? Huh?" She laughed manically. "I was supposed to have a life of free will. You. Replaced. Me."

"Petty officer, stand down! That is an order!"

"What you going to do, yes you have all your minor augmentations, but you are not a Spartan, are you?" She punched the concrete and groaned, tugging on her own hair. "Fuck sake Ash, keep it together." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why?"

"Why what? You sound like a rambling mad man. Take a deep breath and look at yourself. I may have blood loss but I clearly am the one with the wits about them. You are going through a mental breakdown, you didn't think I knew who you are. Christ above. I just tried to lay it down calmly to you now that we are alone, though I guess I didn't do it very well did I? Probably wasn't a great idea to tell you when we are in a warzone, I guess it medicine doing its wonders on my head."

"You knew?"

"I was part of the Air Force super soldier programme, I did say that Ahmed broke into the Smart AI protected software before getting stopped by the AFMP's after hitting some really sensitive information on the whereabouts of nuclear weapons. He loved the challenge and may have, you know, looked a little too deeply into the darkest reaches of office of naval intelligence's files, with the hand of an AFISA smart AI."

"Why would you hack into the ONI's systems, you are all part of the UNSCDF?"

"Why? Because as much as you follow big Admiral Maggie P and the orders of her underlings. The big six intelligence agencies are fighting each other in minor proxy wars for funding, with the ONI getting over forty per cent of the intelligence budget, with MCIA, AFISA, AISC, CIA, ISIN each getting ten each and the rest goes to a number of minor agencies that come under a number of civilian governmental agencies so can outsource funding."

"So you are hacking into each other to get dirty secrets from each other, all for funding."

"Yes. Yes we do, that is why we have six major agencies, four military, and two civil. They are there to keep each other in check, if one gets ahead of the pack, the others rope them back in, but it gets very difficult when they have nearly the same amount of money as the next five agencies combined. The five, we are under a lot of strain, we ran the numbers and found that the Spartan Programme was why you got some much funding to begin with, and so Ahmed got as much as he could about the programme."

"Then what."

"He gave the information to his superiors, they then set us all up on the level one suicide watch and told us the truth. That we were clones and that we deserved to know the truth." Ashley sat down across from her clone. "We were told not to tell anyone, especially family, or we may face assassination, not by any of the Five, but by the office of naval intelligence, because we were loose ends."

"But why did you tell me these things."

"Well other than the fact you were about to kill me, it seemed like the opportune time to say. I might have just saved my ass."

The Spartan ran her hands through her hair. "Daisy was right, I thought she was talking a load of crap, but she was right."

"Daisy Robertson, designation C023, the clone died about twenty-five years ago, she was only fourteen when we found she had died, metabolic cascade failure."

"S023 died on harvest in twenty seven, aiding the evacuation of a group of marines." She said.

"And you didn't believe her when she said that they replaced us with clones?"

"Why should we? We where all told out parents put us into the programme; it was fed to us from the very beginning. I feel like an idiot for not listening to her, probably explains why Ralph was discharged, he probably killed his clone, acting before thinking."

"He did. Got shot straight in the forehead, supposedly the police officer who collected him said that the murderer was having a mental breakdown, found a single brass round and a dead teen next to him. That is when we stated getting looked over by the AFISA. Something must have clicked in the data algorithms of the agency. Shall we?"

"Yeah. So I will have to have a word with my superiors when I get back."

"No, nu-uh, no-sir-ee, that will get you killed, either by Naval or Air Force intelligence."

"So a secret."

"Yes." She winced as she clambered up the wall, noticing her state of undress. "Do you mind?"

"Sorry ma'am, will do. Not like I haven't seen it before." She said gaining a chuckle from the officer.


	32. Interlude IV (The Gunnery Sergeant III)

**MDAM- I recently had a look at my calendar, and holy shit these next two weeks up until the Easter holidays are going to be something else. I have to redraft an entire English folio, complete two large folios for Art and design and Graphic Communication. I also have a confirmed and a possible interview with my selected universities, two German unit assessments and a Graphic Communication preliminary. So yeah, probably wasn't a good idea to order myself to churn out ten thousand words before easter (Which we all know wont happen). But Fuck It, I am writing about a man in power armour taking out an entire Covenant task force, so who gives a flying fuck. MDAM out. o_o7**

C33: Interlude IV (The gunnery sergeant III)

The gunnery sergeant rolled his neck and checked his ammo count. _Still at ninety nine per cent_. He kicked the suit into a action, the mechanically and pneumatic systems enhancing his speed as he raced side on into the front of a tank. The large hulk of battleship grade titanium-A armour ploughed into the unsuspecting shell of a wraith, exposing its inner fusion core. He jumped back and fired a round through the magnetic shielding, destabilising the reactor and detonating it with a blue flame.

The mech clad soldier put his foot down and immediately swung the large unwieldy rifle to face a pair of hunters who got over their initial shock and where charging their plasma cannons. He fired two rounds seeing their effect as he moved to the flank of the large worm hives, much to his disappointment, the rounds just ricocheted of their shields as they let off a two shot barrage against him. He dodged one but the other hit him dead in the centre of the chest, downing his shields sending him flying across the concrete towards another abandoned silo door. The interior gyroscopic systems struggling to keep him upright as he braced his legs for ground impact.

He used the rear camera to aim his next move into a brute chopper. He landed and immediately sprang back twisting his body, the newly improved mobility causing a smile and 'whoop' from the ecstatic NCO. The he fired three shots into the side of the vehicle as it tried to turn, the explosive rounds shattering the chassis of the vehicle. They blew up as he touched the ground, whipping around and shooting a group of elites who popped over the top of the titanium cover, the explosive rounds negating their shields. He ducked again as a try hard grunt tried to kill him with a poorly place fuel rod cannon round flew over his head. He peaked over the thick silo door and fired six target locked shots with the self aiming rifle, killing the lot of them. He turned around and faced down a large wraith turret blast.

He jumped over he metal disk and grabbed a number of the green tubes of the FR cannons. "Right hand mag on." He ordered, the magnetic couplers on his hand activated and the multiple of micro fusion fuel cannon clips latched on to his hand since his fingers where too big to grip them properly. He hid behind the concrete and titanium lips of the silo doors, keeping an eye out for the scientists and his fellow squad-mates as they exited the silo door, the team sneaking around and protecting themselves from the possibility of getting killed. He used the motion sensor in the bottom left of his HUD to notice two slow moving red dots coming his way. He skirted around the titanium cap until he came in front of the two hunters he had seen before. The two of them raised their plasma cannons, the green charging lights lit up the inner veins of the weapon.

The gunnery sergeant cask his hands forward quickly as they shot the green bolts at him, whilst at the same time shouting. "OFF!" The machine took the command and quickly ejected the green tubes at the hunters, before he then dove to the left. The twenty one fusion fuel rods ignited as their out casing was melted and green fluids came in contact with the superheated gas of the hunters arm cannons. The explosion knocked the Hunters onto the ground as the marine shouted. "ON!" and used the magnetism to keep his hand, and therefore his suit, to be attracted to the metal disk, effectively keeping him tethered to it as he used it to run quickly back into the sights of the hunters. "OFF." He said, bringing the gun on his left shoulder down, and firing three rounds into the exposed backs of the Hunters.

He noticed a number of Banshees incoming, so he ordered the suits rocket systems to activate. "Smart Rocket system on." The symbol lit up on his HUD, and automatically began choosing targets with its RADAR systems. The red targeting reticules on his screen all lined up and tracked the purple attack craft. "Fire." The rockets fired out of a small housing in the back of the suit as a stream of blue plasma bolts made their way towards him. A number of the rockets his their intended target but others where it by the banshees shots, exploding in mid air. The mech brought down his fifty-calibre rifle and began firing into the purple aircraft, peppering one before it exploded into a cloud of blue and purple. They other swung around and began shooting the marine with fuel cannons, causing him to jump and dodge.

He moved about, as plasma scorched the surface of the silo work area. He ran around using the magnetic hands for stability, before jumping into the path of the banshee and firing two forty four millimetre tube launched grenades into the cockpit. He activated the jet pack to get out the way of the exploding wreckage and swung the tube around to meet the second last banshee, firing the magazine fed weapon. The banshee exploded. Aurora one, looked around for the last one, finding it, along side a large Covenant task force who had evidently been called into the area. As three phantom drop ships came rearing into the fenced of silo field. The ships began firing at the descending ship, but what really disturbed the marine was the large walking behemoth. _Shit, I never thought I would see one of these again_. He said, looking over as the left fore leg of a scarab, escorted by a number of wraiths. He spoke down the microphone. "We have a Type 47 inbound, keep your eyes peeled." The phantoms closed in, opening their side hatches, like a beetle spreading its wings.

He hit the ground running, his feet immediately springing into action and redirecting the momentum to accelerate quickly forward. The newfound mobility shot adrenaline through the marines system as he raced towards the hovering troop transport. The Scarab was slowly creeping forward every second, its every strike on the ground shaking it with ever increasing intensity. The mech-clad soldier dodged the flurry of blue plasma bolts directed at him, taking jumps to the right and left, moving faster than the cannon could track. The marine, getting the feel for the mass improvement in his speed used the rapid pneumatic and hydraulic systems to extend his legs at a speed he didn't believe possible. These rapid expansions launched the marine into the air and into the open door of the phantom drop ship.

The grunt on the left flank cannon tried to shoot down the marine in the power armour, only to get a high velocity fifty-calibre round through the chest and then the methane tank, flooding the inside of the phantom with the green gas as a number of covenant forces jumped out, but two elites remained in the hold. Drawing their energy swords. They swung at the Aurora one, bringing down their blades of plasma towards the blood covered grey armour. He moved to the right, causing ones blade to crash into the ground, while the others elbow was caught as the human got to his flank. The elite dropped the blade, causing it to clatter to the floor, the blade automatically switching off, as the man broke the arm using his advanced servos. The beast let out a cry as its bones broke. The other elite tried to hit the man by ramming his blade into his chest. The marine however reacted quickly, pulling the distressed elite in front of him, using him as a meat shield before throwing him at his aggressor. They where kicked to the back of the hold, before then firing a large burst of heavy machine gun fire into the creatures heart. Painting the purple wall a sickly blue.

The marine punched into the cockpit. The jackal who was at the helm turned around in shock, before get getting smashed out the front of the metal, opening the cockpit to the elements, the marine pulled the metal further apart and pushed the controls to the left side, jolting the vehicle into another unsuspecting phantom. The man jumped out as the two collided, detonating within seconds of impact, blowing up in lilac flames. He landed on the floor, swinging his fifty-cal around and firing it into the surprised grunts and brutes. Before delving back into the cover of the titanium silo lids. The third and final drop ship tried circling around the marine.

He noticed the rocket system was still online so popped his helmets internal RADAR system out of cover and locked onto the phantom. "Fire." He ordered the system, as a number of foot long rockets flew out the machines back and flew directly into the anti-grav engines, causing the ship to crash to the floor. Happy with himself, began running again, turning his magnetic hands to keep going around corners with more constant acceleration. He came in line of sight of a bond pair of hunters and did something stupidly amazing. He tackled one of the unsuspecting creatures to the ground and put one of the three grenades he had left into the creatures back. Activating it he sprung back, as the fountain of orange erupted out of the creatures back and engulfed its bond twin too, causing it to fly back into the titanium silo cap, rupturing a number of the outer worms in its back.

The marine didn't waste any time and proceeded to curb-stomp its back into the ledge, splitting the warrior in half. He glanced at his motion sensor. "Shit." He muttered, turning around and lowering his grenade launcher, firing a number of the explosive rounds into the sneaking group of grunts and jackals trying to flank his position. The grenades exploded, sending the grunts flying. "How is the evacuation going guys?"

"We are just starting the hog at the moment."

"Good, you might want to move quickly, we have a scarab inbound."

"Shit. I hear you. Good luck sir. You'll need it."

"How is Aurora Three holding up?"

"He ain't to hot. We need to get him to a decent hospital some time soon."

"Great." He sighed, beginning to get into a jog. "Get out safe. Aurora One out." He ran straight for one of the wraiths. Unloading the heavy cannon into its armour. He jumped to the left as the barrages of the three plasma cannons came down upon him. He jumped on to the top and ripped the cannons condensed fusion generator. He the hopped used the height advantage to jump onto the side of the Scarab, with aid of his jet pack and clung onto the side of the massive assault platform, and heaved himself up. His auto cannon down and spraying the number of grunt engineers. He turned around and was shot by an over charged plasma pistol round, dropping his shields and causing his suit to make an emergency reboot. _Shit, not good_. He thought as a needle got stuck in his shoulder. He moved forward slowly and punched the grunt stepped on its head. He swung the auto cannon around as he made his way into the core room. He looked at the big blue shield in front of him and thought to himself. _This looks important_. As he swung his arms back and punched it repeatedly until it exposed the core. He was suddenly knocked forward as a gravity hammer hit his lower torso, and into the worms, his shields had dropped to zero.

He managed to drop an roll as the brute tried another attempt to kill him but the marine, simple dropped a grenade and jumped out the scarab, the explosion killing the brute and destroyed the core. Sirens blew as the scarab began to meltdown. Landed unceremoniously into the ground, destroying the back of the suit as it landed. "System report."

"All weapons offline, jet pack offline, movement restricted, HUD sensors offline, shields offline, self destruct online, one hundred and forty errors from sixty different systems, suggest suit ejection."

"Activate suit ejection."

"Command accepted. Detonation key unlocked." He felt the suit let go of his body though the harness around his chest was still attached. "Confirm action."

"Confirm."

"Ejection in three, two, one." The suit, opened itself up suddenly the harness fired the marine back and into the sky, it opened a parachute and he landed a hundred meters away. A small group of covenant soldiers where making their way over to his suit, so he hid in the forest by the clearing he and his suit landed in. The covenant soldiers inspected the empty shell as the marine removed the detonation key from the harness, which also contained a pistol, and a days worth of rations. The small metal and rubber device had two buttons on it, an arming switch and a detonator. He pressed them both, and the suit exploded along with its munitions, taking the covenant with it along with all information regarding its design in a beautiful explosion.

He made his way back into the forest, the needles shattered remains still in his shoulder. He pulled out his pistol and walked towards the city.


	33. The Crucible I

**MDAM- Wooooo. It is holiday time, no more school for two weeks. Dame this feels good, being able to sit back, relax and… wait. Shit. Looks like that free time has been taken away from me as I have a bunch of chapters to complete as well as a new gym schedule, and a graphic communication presentation. But hey, could be worse, at least I can refuel of that sweet, sweet caffeine every hour with my proximity to my kitchen. So I expect myself to be über productive this next fortnight, only time will tell. MDAM out. o_o7**

C34: The Crucible I

The team of Spartans, ODST's and airmen snuck into a large office reception atrium. The sand flat sandstone pillars formed the points of a hexagon, joined by walls of glass that let in the last of the dying light of the dusk to fall into the untouched room. The large fountain in the middle of the room was still pouring out water, even after an attack. The three long corridors that lead to a trio of tall blade shaped towers, which stood like vigils over the city of New Baghdad. The silence was deafening as the slight pitter-patter of soldiers feet echoed off the lonely walls. The air was stale, almost unmoving, the specs of dust floating like they were suspended in time, reflected the deep orange light as it streamed through the windows.

"All squad members fall in square pattern around me as I gain entry to the system." Beth said, walking down the long, central, northern corridor past a less tidy, blood, bullet and plasma covered hallway. "Keep your eyes peeled, there is an increased chance of covenant forces nearby."

"Copy." Said a murmur of her troops, clearly not in the mood of making more noise than needed, less unnecessary sound, the better. The group of nine made past the corpses of dead UNSC Army and CAA militia members alike, as well as what seemed to be a number of able bodied persons, dead with a gun in hand. The smell was combing their collective nostrils, as they crossed both human and covenant soldiers alike, rotting in the warm environment of the sand coloured green house. There were sandbags, with both the gunners and the guns hanging lifelessly over the edge, the brass of the bullets casings littering the floor with the expended husks of covenant carbine and fuel rod magazines. The team just picked up what ammunition they could off of the dead bodies.

"Ranks of two as we approach the bottle neck start."

"Copy" They said, reaching the large opening entrance to the another large waiting area and atrium, with large amounts of foliage flowing into artificial ponds, small gold fish swimming under lily-pads. The five in front kept in a crouched position, allowing the second row of four too aim above. They expanded into a curved line to improve their field of vision as they stepped forward.

"Twelve o'clock clear."

"Ten o'clock clear."

"Two o'clock clear."

"Six o'clock clear." Said Beth, keeping an eye on their backs. "All clear, move up." She swung herself around to face the middle of the large hall like room. The natural light beaming in in columns of gold. "Move up to that reception desk and remember square formation."

"Copy." They replied, the eight soldiers surrounding their commander as she moved under the desk's hatch and touched the glass display of the computer. She plugged in a hard connection to her microphone to its jack and spoke. "Lieutenant Commander Bethany Milton, B-312, authorisation code Sierra Uniform India November, one, niner." A small keypad opened and she typed in an eight-digit code.

"Access granted. Proceed with unlock?"

"Proceed." The nearby circle in the floor moved down two inches before sliding around and underneath the marble, opening a large access port. "All units on me."

"Copy, ma'am." They replied, the lieutenant commander grabbed the handhold and began to descend into the warm, dry emergency hatch. The team of Special Forces, made down the steps until they reached a long octagonal service hatch made of concrete, lit by the faint red emergency lighting. There were rows upon rows of wiring behind metal wire coverings that ran as long as the eye could see. Beth took six steps forward, checking her motion sensor for possible enemies. "Area clear south."

"Area clear north." Ross said.

"Copy, head count Foley."

There was a moment of pause, the quiet hum as the staff sergeant did his tally. "Ten, ma'am."

"We need to move fast, we have no idea how far the Covenant have gone."

"What is the plan?" Mason asked.

"Simple, we have ten levels, most likely filled to the brim with covenant forces, with the ten of us, three Spartans, three ODST's and four Special Air Regiment soldiers, this should be a piece of cake."

"So how do we go about this?" James asked.

"Three teams, each with a Spartan, ODST and a SAR, one with an extra. We will each take a sector, and we move down to sublevel ten and meet in the central nerve centre, where we all get in there and extract or detonate the UIAI data core." The UIAI, or Urban Infrastructure Artificial Intelligence is a second or third generation "dumb" AI, which operates the day-to-day operations of a city or planet. They work by collecting large quantities of information from phones, computers, bank transactions, turnstiles, checkouts, security cameras, credits cards and more, then compiles the data into predictions for traffic flow, live information feeds for the police to use in cases and attacks and trends that businesses can build around. This information and control however can do a lot of damage when it is in the wrong hands, like what happened on Apex. This AI is invaluable, as it is an entire intelligence-gathering network that can easily turn the tide of the battle, allowing the saving or destruction of millions of people.

"So who is with who?" Foley asked

"Milroy, you, Foley and Kelly, Alice are together. Ross, you have Linda and Ramirez under your command. Mason, Douglas, on me."

"Yes Ma'am."

"I expect all teams to be down at the nerve centre in forty-five minuets, Milroy, Anzac you should have map copies. Copy?"

"Copy ma'am."

"Alright, Good Luck and Godspeed."

Ross looked a Matthew for a second. "You got her to binge watch Stargate didn't you."

"Perhaps." He quickly made his way down the corridor. "Don't judge."

Ross just shook his head and began running down an identical corridor, his duo behind him.

Price and Rutland looked at the lieutenant commander expectantly. "Old TV show, don't ask, it watches like a poorly written fanfiction." She walked ahead down the third and final passageway. The trio made down the long corridor of identical segments prefabricated segments of metal, concrete, and wires until they ran into to a red-lit automatic door. Beth handed her rifle quickly into the fumbling arms of the air force lieutenant. She tapped up and down the door; listening carefully, before making a succession of six punches up the centre of the door, before ripping the doors open. "Open Sesame." She picked the rifle out of the slightly surprised Douglas.

Mason smacked him on the back of the head. "Stop staring, it's rude." He said moving past him, not overly surprised, seeing Matthew and Ross doing crazier things when working on some AISC, Army Intelligence and Security Corps, or ONI operation. "They do it all the time fly boy."

The airman took a breath and sighed, and fiddled around with his Battle Rifle strap. "Bloody puddle pirates." He said under his breath moving around the corner into position, scanning the area of possible enemies. "Clear."

"Clear."

"Clear, follow me, move up."

"Copy." The two soldiers said, keeping the six of the Spartan clear as they entered the more open and wide passageway down to the data stack. They walked past a couple corpses of dead security officers, one with a pink needle jutting out his chest, empty pistol in hand.

"What a way to go." Mason said as they made it to the data terminal/security check point, before the bend. The lights of the data banks lighting up the room in a red iridescence. There was no sound other than the stressing of the glass underfoot and the gentle hum of the racks upon racks of electronics. The air tasted sterile and overly purified. There was a small trail of cyan blood that snaked across the ground and led around the street sized corner. The three soldiers backed up against the wall and on the dropping of the three fingers of the Spartan mover around the inside wall, aiming down range, ready to shoot.

Only to be met with nothing but the trail of blood leading to a red data rack that stood at the end of the 'road' The soft, billowing clouds of white air as the liquid nitrogen cooled the large cylindrical device. Beth pressed the button on screen, the machine accepting her authorisation, turning red to green. "Hop on."

"You can't be serious, that isn't meant to support people." Douglas tried to argue, but the Spartan just casually strolled onto the top of the red machine and jumped a bit to show that it was stable. He walked onto the device with a huff and an amused sergeant. Beth passed her hand over the device again, sending it down to sub level nine. The three of them got into a crouched position as they passed the white lines of Crystal Data Storage Readers, or CDSR's. They lip of the ceiling lost contact with the rack as they descended down. "Covies."

"Fire without discretion." Beth ordered, unleashing controlled, professional and well aimed three round bursts from her BR35. Popping off each grunt and jackal with ease. She dropped a magazine. "Changing mag." She let the spent metal bullet case clutter to the floor as she picked up a fresh one from her side and lodging it into the intended slot. "Move out."

They didn't need to reply as a plasma grenade flew towards the large machine. The airman, ODST and Spartan all rushed off in their respective directions. Beth flying down and impaling her Battle Rifle's laser cut bayonet into the skull of a brute, before it could remove its energy blade. She shot the rifle once to allow for an easy dislodging of the barrel attached knife before diving to cover. Douglas fired his BR55 into what ever moved, shooting a type-1 plasma grenade on the floor that was surrounded by unsuspecting elites, dropping their shields. He along with Mason, cleared them off with a number of well placed head shots, turning the glass server coverings into the disturbing equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting. Before they knew that they cleared the room the three sets of eyes turned towards the wide corridor, where a large number of skirmishers began crawling towards them like a bunch of bugs.

Beth switched to her MA5K, a smaller, but more reliable version of the MA5 series. Price and Rutland switched to the MA37, and began mowing down the wave of the jackals' cousins. They put up their arm shields and fired back with their plasma pistols. "Frag out." Called the SAR airman, the M9 HE-DP grenade flew thirty feet through the opening and exploded in seconds, taking out a fair number of enemy combatants in the process. "I'll give covering fire ma'am, you and price can move up."

"Copy that lieutenant. I'll take the left, Price you get the right, we will assault the opposite sides.

"I hear you ma'am, lets get moving." They hopped over the computer terminal turned barricade and fell into the respective sides. "Who's first?"

"I'll go, I am the closest to reasonable cover. Keep 'em suppressed will ya'"

"Yes ma'am." The two said as the Spartan glided across the hallway, the shield on her left foot on max as she used her right to propel herself to cover, the streams of orange tracer fire dotted around her, as did the opposing fire of green plasma bolts. She quickly checked her ammo count.

"On my mark, move sergeant."

"Yes ma'am."

She moved the rifle and popped it over her metal box barricade. "Mark." She let out a torrent of unforgiving metal as the ODST ran for his dear life towards the upturned security barrier, two meters up from her position. The Lieutenant Commander ejected a magazine and replaced it. She threw the old one over the fence to confuse the enemy. It worked long enough for Douglas and Mason to kill a few who hesitated at the odd maneuverer. She rolled out of cover and fired shots into the remaining three's unprotected bodies.

"Nice one ma'am."

"I am to please."


	34. The Crucible II

**MDAM- I am so sorry, it is late and in a holiday, so I have no excuse… Well I do… but I still should have uploaded something on the weekend, but (I may not have an excuse, but I am going to try and lay off the heat a bit) because I had to do stuff to do (Great start, I know) like how I had to send away a folio to one of my universities this year, do a German assessment, start on a presentation for my Graphics Course. But I have been working on some other shit too. I recently started putting up some lore on the Halo Fanon website with a number of Intelligence Agencies, the Planetary Navigation System and an operation on the site, so that is there is something to read up for some sweet background lore (that is not essential to the story), there for you to sink your teeth into. Also I got very drunk last night (Brothers and a friend birthdays). Anyway. That's enough of me. onwards to the chapter. MDAM out o_o7**

C34: The Crucible: Part II

The large room as covered in coolest pipes, leading off in organised and continually branching lines, like a fractal chain of metal tubing that all originates from a single red pipe with the words, Helium Three, stencilled on the side of it. Room on sub-level three was horribly cold. Kelly and Alice had to roll down their sleeves and put on a pair of tactical gloves, or their sweat from the desert sun would freeze her skin to the metal of their rifles.

Foley and Matthew where fairing better, with their EVA rated suits having self contained heating and cooling systems. The breath fogged up in front of the faces of the airwomen who were deeply considering putting on their emergency blankets as ponchos. "Who would have thought you would need a bloody jacket in a desert." Alice mumbled under her breath. Shifting the strap of her rifle around her neck.

They were confused about the reason that there was such a low temperature, people still had to work on these levels. Foley and Milroy simply agreed that it must have been a leak somewhere down the line and the super cooled liquid was making the local air quite frigid.

They came to a wall and braced against it, they had go through a fair bit of ammunition on the previous two floors as they where met with heavy resistance and where in no rush to use up more. They looked at Matthews fingers as they dropped one by one, before they all sprang around the corner, running for what ever could be classified as cover.

They noted a number of shivering and fidgeting Grunts and Jackals who clearly where in the same boat as Alice and Kelly. There where a number of Elites patrolling the area looking for something to give them a reason to kill, be that a Grunt or an enemy. They didn't notice the four Special Forces soldiers creep around the corners.

Matthew grabbed a grenade from his belt, and made a quick hand signal, pointing at the grenade rolling his finger around a horizontal axis and finally pointed towards the covenant troops. He then signalled by point at himself, then up, the made a pistol firing shape towards the covenant. The other pulled out grenades too and waited for the Spartan to lower his fingers into a fist before rolling the armed grenades towards the unsuspecting aliens. They all detonated within a second of each other, all four of them popped out of cover and mowed down the remaining, startled, troops. The elites now with their shields down where easily killed by the small torrent of bullets.

Alice ejected her magazine and checked which point the bullets aligned; she was satisfied with it at half capacity. Kelly moved beside Matthew, as they moved on towards the wall, excepting more trouble, they popped out the side of the cover, Kelly looking out while crouched, Matthew standing up, battle rifles ready, but nothing came up, not even the glimmer of invisibility cloaking of an elite. The laser beam thermometer in Matthews helmet showed that the temperature was dropping the further the travelled down.

"Foley, on me. Alice, Kelly, watch our six. Copy?"

"Yes, sir." They all said. The ODST staff sergeant came to the side of the Spartan.

"I think that we found the leak." He turned to the Special Air Regiment soldiers. "Stick on you smocks."

"What makes you think the leak is down there?" The staff sergeant asked.

"Because down there it is negative fifty."

"That's colder than my ex-wife's heart."

"You were married?" They said, walking down the thirty-degree gradient.

"Twice actually. The first one, Catherine, was an utter bitch. She tried to divorce me for all I own and almost succeeded had I not pulled out evidence that she was sleeping with my now ex-friend in the middle of court. My second wife, Juliana, she was one hell of a woman. Always had a smile on her face, and could likely kick the crap out of this old NCO." He smiled sadly. "We had a kid, Peter, just as mad as his parents. We all lived on Apex; you know the colony that was hit half a year ago? Well she didn't get to spaceport on time. Luckily my kid got out with me as I was dropping him off at school when the alarm blared."

"Shame." They go down to the bottom their rifles scanning for trouble. But only came across a line of burst helium three pipes, the damage was clearly intentional. The dropped their guns. "What the hell compelled the covenant to cooling pipes?"

"Wouldn't that just make the system overheat?"

It hit Matthew like a ton of bricks, this was a deliberate attack on the system and. He ran and hit the emergency shut off valve. "We have less than forty-five minutes, we have probably less than twenty." _If we're lucky. _He thought hoping that he wasn't too late.

* * *

"Ramirez!" The Hispanic corporal looked at the New Zealander Spartan. They were currently on sublevel six and in the process of getting to level six. Ross, Linda and Ramirez all had an interesting time getting down to level five, coming in contact with a multitude of grunt and jackal squads on levels two and four, never mind the odd temperature drop on level three and the team of elites they had to kill on their current level. Ramirez snapped out of his slight daydream when Ross continued. "You still got ammo for an assault rifle?"

"Sure." He grabbed a magazine and chucked it across the tunnel and into the Spartans hands, the shots of Linda's sniper rifle ringing loud as they echo's off the wall. He looked at his own sniper and quickly got out of cover and looked down the sight as fast as he could. He took a shot at an Elite minor who was waiting for his plasma repeater to cool down, only to go back into cover. Linda was firing shot after unrelenting shot at the covenant forces, she grabbed a grenade and tossed it down into the lower section of the level. It exploded, and with that the Spartan jumped over his cover to use the current distraction to his advantage, though a few shots still nicked the shields. He slid into a shocked Grunt, who managed to let off a single missing green bolt. The Spartan unleashed a number of rifle rounds into the chest of an attacking elite, before unsheathing his knife and plunging it into the neck of a Jackal.

A sniper round, from Ramirez's weapon, hit a suicide Grunt who flopped to the floor five meters away from the Spartan. Ross spun around, the gargling Jackal still in hand, and raised its shield up before it exploded. Knocking the super soldier back a number of yards on his back. Rolled the buzzard off to the side and quickly rolled himself in the opposite direction as an elite tried to swing a blade down upon him, only to be hit by a sniper round.

"Cheers Linda." The Spartan shouted, looking down at the cyan painted floor, the black on his armour dotted with the specks of blood. He didn't spend much time mulling over this before he got back to work. Grabbing the armed talons of an overcharging Jackal, he pointed it at an elite and quickly snapped the Jackals wrist, causing its clawed finger release the trigger. Sending the green orb of plasma to over load the shield system in a shower of golden sparks. The Spartan broke the back of the bird, leaving it more or less dead, but not before ripping its right hand off. Then tossing the severed shield hand, with a still operating energy disk attached, into the elites hands, leaving it bewildered to say the least before the unrelenting foot of the Spartan, with a foot carrying the momentum of a speeding car crashed into the poor bastards face, crunching under hip sole as it made contact with metal floor.

Linda was shocked to say the least, seeing a Spartan do all of this up close and personal was new to her. Sure she had seen some newsreel or propaganda piece, but seeing it within the range of fifteen meters was something quiet extraordinary to say the least. "You alright sir?" She asked.

He just turned around and gave her a thumbs-up before smiling through his depolarised visor. "I am just peachy."

Ramirez just nodded, sure he had seen some strange shit when he was working with the Army Intelligence and Security Corps, the AISC, but at least then he wasn't getting the full bonus granted by the Mjolnir armour. Back then he was just in Army Ranger gear. But that didn't involve ripping off the hands of his enemies, just shooting some high ranking Elite field marshal or Brute chieftain in the head from about two miles away, or firing a magnum bullet in the back of some insurrectionist who got too dangerous. The normal sort of thing to do_. Since getting in the army ranger ODST division, shit never was normal._ _But this… is just scary_. The worst thing, in the mind of this army ranger, was the fact that Ross was still in his happy, admittedly crazy, self.

"Ramirez!" Ross, shouted, the Hispanic soldier scolded himself silently, falling into daydreams had been a habit he had grown into during his time in service, as being a sniper meant waiting a lot of time sitting and looking at nothing. The sad thing is that is saved his life once, as a covenant patrol mistook him for a dead soldier and didn't kill him. He didn't realise this until they were levelled by his team two minuets later. He looked up at the Spartan. "Earth to Ramirez?"

"I think in this context it is Babel to Ramirez. We are light years from earth sir." Linda corrected, seeing if there was any human weapons or ammunitions among the small massacre. She found a few rounds for her pistol and pocketed them.

* * *

Bethany, Mason and Douglas where all on level seven. They could see the levels of security and resistance that the operators had put up, as they got closer to the data core of the UIAI. There were a number of Colonial Military Administration soldiers with various plasma burns and cuts lying around the data cores. "Pick up a radios from the soldiers, they were likely protected by the UIAI Faraday shielding." The Airman and the ODST picked up two radios, and quickly tested them, happy to hear a connection between the two devices. "Change them to encrypted channel; Nine, Six, Six."

"Hello?" Mason spoke into the device, a clear connection between his radio and the helmet of the Spartan and Douglas'. They scavenged what they could and collected the IFF tags, the Spartan putting them in her TAC hard case on her leg.

"Guys?"

"Yes sir?"

"We have company." The AISC and ONI soldiers turned around to see what the AFISA officer was talking about.

"Well Shit."


	35. The Crucible III

**MDAM- The second last Crucible Chapter. I plan to use these chapters with similar names to be the larger ones that I will rope together to make larger ones in the rewrite, but who knows, I may completely forget about this come a fortnight, anyway enough of me. Just in case anyone is unfamiliar to the word 'bergen' it is a military backpack used in the field, often camouflaged. MDAM out o_o7**

C35: The Crucible III

Kelly, Alice and Foley rappelled down the exposed hole of the now destroyed data rack, the soft clunks echoing off the walls as their boots collided with the hard surface underfoot. They scanned the area as the black carbon roped began to spool in the centre of the rack service hole. "Is it clear to come down?" Matthew called down.

"All good to go sir." Alice called up before a hulking thud hit the floor; the Spartan clambered out the hole the air down here was much warmer compared to the freezing temperatures of heat exchanger level, five sublevels above them. With a grunt, Matthew heaved himself over the lip of the hole and tossed the carbon rope to his fellow lieutenant. She grabbed it before checking her current ammo count of her shotgun. They wasted no time before advancing into the next room, Kelly and Foley on one side, Alice and Matthew on the other. It was quiet compared to the previous five levels they had descended from.

"Switching to thermal optics." Matthew called, expecting to find the heat signature of cloaked Covenant troops. "Odd." To his surprise, the room was just filled with the purple void of nothingness, bar his teammates and the odd heated air vent.

"Matthew, what's up?"

"Nothing, and that is what is bothering me. Where the hell is every Covenant soldier on this lev-" he was cut off by the sound of an announcement and the lights brightening.

"Core overheat, all engineer units please report to sub level three for repairs."

"Drop any excess weight as we run, we have less than ten minuets before the Covenant get their engineers and into the mix and get control of the city." He said, as they started moving, dropping off their bergens and throwing off their backs and into the sidewall, though they kept their webbing on. They slid into a quick run, following the Spartan as they ran into a group of unrespecting Covenant troops, who they simply fired their forty millimetre grenades into before they had a chance to retaliate. Knocking them to the ground dead or unconscious before they had the chance to react. The blonde haired airwoman dropkicked into the chest of one of the two elites still standing, though its shield where depleted. The force of the kick knocked the elite to the floor, Alice wasted no time firing the last of M37 into the chest of the elite, before sprinting down the hall.

Kelly simply shot an elite in the chest, the slug's pellets peppering the underprepared alien. Matthew had already cleared out a number Jackal's who managed to raise their depleted existent shields. With a grunt Foley just ran forward through the fray to see if there were any more troops, and to their surprise there was nothing. _Damn this is strange._ The man thought, little resistance and no reinforcements.

"We have-" he checked his timer "-eight and a half minuets. In order to get down faster, we are going to have to do something crazy." He said.

"You forget that we are SF, we like crazy." The army ODST said.

"This place has an elevator shaft." Matthew continued. "We weren't able to use it before as it is locked down with deadly countermeasures in case of a covenant invasion. But this is over ridden in case of a coolant malfunction; this place is run with its own nuclear reactor. And we all know what happens when you have a fully operational nuclear reactor with out coolant."

"Boom." They rounded a corner.

"The lack of coolant also means the sheer amount of heat produced by a fully functioning, city wide UIAI has to go somewhere, though that generally means the AI core exposes itself to radiate heat into the air. Allowing the covenant to easily access the UIAI and take control of the city."

"But aren't their other ways the reactor cools itself?"

"Yes, it gets emergency cooling from the Euphrates reservoir and uses that, but this creates nuclear waste, and that is something no one wants." They came to the centre of the facility. There was some railing that over looked the central elevator. The shaft was wide, about ten meters across, and had large doors that opened and closed like a bomb bay that were used for installation of equipment. The carbon rope was tied and wrapped around the railing and clipping it to their webbing. The doors were automatically open to release the hot air into all of the levels. The four soldiers stood before it and then ran towards the void. Their legs braced against the reinforced meter and a half thick concrete, and began running down to the bottom, past the now deactivated machine guns. The Spartan lit up the lower shaft with his headlamp as they came to their first obstacle, the first of three blast doors. "Hold position."

"Copy." They said, holding their rappel pulleys as Matthew grabbed a number of C-12 explosives. He hoped silently that these would do the job of blasting through the large two-foot thick floor door. He placed two about one and a half metres apart and quickly pulled himself up to the his teams level and, due to the EMP knocking out his detonators, detonated them with a shot from his pistol. The smoke cleared and a hole large enough for them to run through, but when they went through, the sound of stirred wings caught his attention.

* * *

"Well Shit." Was the first thing that ran through the mind of Bethany as she came face to face with two Elite Zealot extraction teams, who had just dropped their cloak, the six Elites all in their customised Sanghaili armour, four took out their energy swords, two stood back with a needle rifle in hand. "Hold fast, team."

"_Demon._" One of them snarled, Beth guessed that he was this squad's commander.

"Mason, how much ammo is still in your SAW?"

"Fresh barrel, so enough to kill two if I don't miss. I have two more if that helps."

"Rutland?"

"I have a eight rounds left for my shotgun."

_Great._ Beth thought. The Field Marshals taking steps towards the group, closing the gap of thirty metres. Beth spoke through her radio. "Don't make a move until I say. Then all concentrate fire on a single elite, take them out one by one. Makes shit easier, Dive to the side and fire, if one comes to close, that has priority, nod is you copy?" She said; they were now ten metres away. _Three, two, one, "Go!"_ She shouted, raising her battle rifle and firing its forty-millimetre grenade launcher into the Elite, shredding its insides in an orange glow. The Spartan, didn't waste any time and raced forward, changing her Battle Rifle to its emergency, fully automatic mode. Mason and Rutland already shooting into the crowd of now five Elites. The Elites didn't seem overly fazed, but rather they just picked up attitude and began to shoot at the team.

One of them closed up upon Mason, who fired his SAW LMG into it as it brought its sword down in a wide arc. The ODST sprung back as he tried to avoid the plasma blade, but it nicked the front of his armour, cutting an orange line through the composite material. He rolled to the side as the blade was thrust in towards his chest, tossing away his SAW in the process. He pulled out his knife and threw it at the reptilian invader. The handle bounce of the armour, but it gave the ODST enough time to pull out his pistol and unload its contents into the helmet of the Elite, breaking its shields and killing it. _Note to self: don't throw combat knifes, it's not the movies._ It fell on him but he hoisted it up and used it as a meat shield as a number of needles penetrated its limp carcass. He heaved the body across and dived for his SAW, a number of needles skimmed off his shoulder as he dived for his weapon and into cover. He quickly checked how many rounds were in the barrel. He saw Douglas being tossed across the hall and fell to the floor. His winded body trying, and failing to raise the shotgun.

"Hey, you, you fucking split lip, that's my teammate you are fucking with." The field marshal made the mistake of hesitating and looking at Mason as Bethany drove her bayonet threw the Elites back, breaking its shield, before then firing a torrent of bullet into half of its vital organs, screaming while doing so. Ripping it out and firing her rifle, supressing the needle rifle marksmen, who managed to nearly drop her shields, back into cover. Douglas picked up his shotgun and used the body of the dead elite as a piece of cover. He saw a slight shimmer of the light as a cloaked elite tried to sneak up behind the Spartan as she tossed a grenade behind the cover of the two elite marksmen. He fired the shotgun into the elite, who confirmed its location with it activating its energy sword, its blood painting the back of the Spartan. The grenade landed and two zealots ignited their blades while jumping over the barricade and away from the grenade. Mason unloaded the last half a barrel magazine into the shield, causing a shower of golden sparks to fly as. He grabbed smashed the front of his barrel into the face of the Zealot, then again, and again and again. "Come on and die already you squid faced, BASTARD." He finished as the second Elite was being pummelled into the floor with the titanium-clad fists of an angry Spartan, who was covering her black intelligence armour with the spray cyan blood while straddling the helpless alien.

Mason almost felt sorry for its unfortunate way out. _Almost._

He was knocked from his thoughts as the lights brightened and a noise came through the speaker. "Core overheat, all engineers please report to sub level three for repairs."

* * *

"Core overheat, all engineers please report to sub level three for repairs." The lights in the room seemed to brighten up.

Pravdin, Ramirez and Anzac looked at each other; there glances all conveying the same opinion. "That can't be good." Linda muttered as she reloaded her pilfered second pistol then attaching it to one to the magnetic holster on the left thigh armour pad. They still had two levels to go, and their time seemed to keep getting cut shorter.

"Any ideas Warrant?" Ross asked Linda as they began to pick up their pace. The three of them got to the data rack and began descending on it. They where in their triangular formation, looking in all directions, aiming down their sights as they reached ceiling lip of the hole. They came face to face with what looked like a hive of drones. They all switched to their battle rifles.

The sudden and unprecedented arrival of the three soldiers, gave the three of them enough time to shoot at a number of the already exposed bugs. They aimed for the head, releasing a torrent of burst fire. The dropping them like flies. One of them tried to tackle into Ross, who just grabbed one of its legs and forced it on its back and shot its soft under belly. Before the click and hiss of the data rack locking into position. James ran to the door and unlocked it. Linda and Ross jumped through before he closed it again, but not before he tossed in three incendiary grenades. There was a large bang as the room was engulfed in flame.

The three of them walked on down the corridor, they had one more level to go.


	36. The Crucible IV

**MDAM- Final Crucible chapter, and it's late (is that really much ****of a surprise). These last few weeks have been nothing but a pain in my ass, completing Graph Comm and art folios. I also have a two of my exams (English and Graph Comm) within the first week of them starting in Scotland, so I have to revise for them. I will be uploading a chapter next week as the next exam will no be on until the end of May so I might only get one or two chapters up. But who the hell knows. MDAM out o_o7**

**MDAM out o_o7**

C36- The Crucible IV

Bethany looked at Mason and Rutland. "We need to move, like, Now!" She said.

"What's going on?"

Bethany began to jog, or run for Mason and Rutland. "Didn't you get briefed on this?"

"Nope." Rutland said completely nonchalantly, picking up the energy sword off the floor. _I have enough favours with his CO to get this into personal position_.

"The core of the UIAI is exposed, a weakness discovered and exploited on Apex by the Covenant." She said before rolling out of cover. _All Clear._ She shot up. "It exposes the data core and allows easy access to all aspects of the city-wide network, imagine having full access to road barricades, flight control, evacuation protocols, security cameras and much more. That's why," the three of them slid into cover, "we need a shortcut." She grabbed a datapad on that hung from her waist. Tapping in a few commands a small volumetric display appeared. "With the overheating protocol in place, a number of pipes that would otherwise be used the direct heat away from minor data storage areas are funnelling hot air to the surface directly from sub-level ten." She traced her finger across the display from the core to a point. "We are here on sub-level eight. "We access this room here," the finger at the point moved to a red circle, "and we are here."

"So we have to cover fifty meters of what is most likely hostile targets on the other side." Rutland pointed out as she pocketed the device.

"So we are going to use them as a couple billion credit costing slide?" Mason said.

"At a basic level yes." She said, unhooking the carbon rope from her side before looping over her shoulder. She raised her rifle as she prepped to open the blast door. She swiped her hand over, the ID chip in the base of her hand responded to the sensor and the door slowly opened. The three of them swing around the corner and fired their battle rifles into a group of grunts, ripping through them like paper. Bethany ran hard into cover, grabbing a small piece of pre-kneaded C-12 and tossed it into the gaggle of Grunts. _Gaggle, Herd or_ _Shoal? What is a group of Grunts anyway?_ She thought as she detonated it from her arms Tac-Pad. The AFISA agent and AISC ranger ran in. They fired a number of rounds as the large plume of fire ripped through the shields and flesh of a number of off guard Elites.

"Lieutenant Commander, move down the aisle to the left. We will take the right."

"Copy sergeant." She changed for pistol, which was far more effective at close range. "Move."

The three of them charged around their flanks. Bethany stuck her knife into the back of an elite and fired her pistol wildly into whatever moved, grabbing the attention of all the troops. She pulled the Elite back up, only taking a couple of hits to her shield. But the elite took the brunt of the punishment, its lifeless ragdoll head shaking around. She unclipped a magazine on her webbing, ejecting her empty one and inserting the loose one into the slot. She got back to firing taking of a jackal and a grunt before the rain of fire from her two teammates. She attached two plasma grenades to the side of the dead elite and kicked it towards a number of jackals using a fallen data rack as cover. The blast knocked the rack with great force into the buzzards, only for the Spartan, Mason and Douglas to take their place on the other side.

They fired a number of rounds into the enemy before jumping over. Bethany used followed the set marker to the right grey panel and unclasped it revealing a large red pipe. She grabbed small direction charge of C12 and placed it on it. "Stand back." The team got behind some cover. "Fire in the hole!"

The blast ripped open the man-sized steel piping. "You really wanted to say that didn't you?" Douglas said, raising an eyebrow. The childish and gleeful smile shining through the depolarised glass gave him the answer. He anchored his rope and clipped on, before lowering himself down the heat vent. He shook his head as he descended. _Spartans, what a bunch_.

"DRONES! Full auto and keep running." Matthew shouted at his team as the continued down the elevator shaft, the sides of the walls littered with the explosive disturbed hive pods of the covenant insects, their sprouted wings buzzing as the flew against the UNSC soldiers. Matthew dropped two more C-12 explosives down the shaft and detonated them when the soft clunk of the devices on metal, sending an orange fireball that lit the room in its deadly phosphorescence. The team ran down through the hole to the next level. They were met with an open and exposed elevator hatch, the chitin hive pods of Drones covering up every available surface for at least twenty meters from the shaft. "We are at sub level ten guys, jump, extend your ropes and unclip them and fall safely into the corridor."

They kept on running, and just before the lip, they all pushed with enough strength to flip them upright as they flew through the gap. They pressed the quick release button on the clips and flew through the hole, they braced themselves and rolled out on the smoothed out surface of the corridor floor. They immediately turned around and fired indiscriminately into the swarm of man-sized bugs coming their way. Their battle rifles on automatic were quickly draining. "Incendiary," Alice called out; Matthew tossed her an orange labelled device. She pulled the pin and chucked it into the cloud of insectoids. The blast lit from one to the other exponentially, a large number drones falling to the ground in chunks of charred and scorch marked flesh. "How many more have you got?"

"That's it, only frags and C12." Matthew said, checking the others. "Same goes for all of us, switch to a hollow point magazine if you have one."

"Copy." The four of them emptied their magazines and switched to HP, the four battle rifles ripped through the bugs like nothing. The metal flowers blooming and shredding the insides of them, they all easily got through the soft underbelly of the insects, internal organs.

"Keep moving back." Matthew ordered. They all moved with their backs to their target, firing into the large swarm of plasma shooting drones. They backed up into a wall and pressed Matthew swiped his hand over the access panel. Revealing a large hall of data racks. They all filed in and Matthew quickly waved the door closed again. They all slumped up against the wall. "Take a breather guys, but only for a min…Wait." He looked briefly at his motions sensor to see it was acting up. Gently, he smacked the helm to see if it would sort itself out, but the strange blue. _Blue. Oh shit!_ He moved out the way by diving to the right. "Camouflaged Elites. Move erratically, shoot any shimmer that you see." He said in the same tone, the elites hopefully didn't speak English.

He looked at each of the areas that his suit was highlighting, looking for a slight shift in the air as the light diffracted around the bodies of the Elites. The fireteam all stood up, their rifles training around for the elites but not in an overly suspicious manner. Matt caught a slight shift in the light to his left, like looking at an elite sized glass of water. Switched his half empty magazine and moved it to his side and replaced it with armour piercing rounds, the small lever on the side of his rifle was flicked up to fully automatic. He took two more steps as the Elite came closer to him.

He swung around quickly, using the Mjolnir armours systems and his augmentations to move at superhuman speeds. He clicked the trigger as it unloaded a torrent of tungsten tipped bullets into the heart of the alien soldier. The recoil forced the rifle up from its chest to its face just as its shields broke. The active camouflage dropped as soon as the shields did and the angry look surprise was smeared all over his four-jawed face. The other three were still scanning the area for any sign of trouble. Kelly, with her shotgun placed snugly against her shoulder, glanced around to her left and quickly rolled forward. The as a stream of purple crystalline darts flew right where her head should have been, she turned and shot a slug into the chest area of the elite, dropping its shields. It turned around and trained its sights on the Lieutenant, who was running in zigzagging patterns around it. She tried to shoot another round but the click of an empty chamber was all that rang out. She quickly changed to her pistol and unloaded half a magazine into its chest. The beast fell over, onto its back. But not before the animal shot needles towards her, most missed due the bad aim of the dying soldier, but a needle grazed the side of her leg, causing her to stumble slightly and scream out in pain.

"Kelly!" Shouted Alice, as she ran towards the fallen comrade. But she didn't do it stupidly, but rather used it so the Elite would act predictably and run into her path to intercept her. So at the last second, she dived left, the shimmer of light moved and she fired her rifle into its chest, the scattering of golden sparks was quickly followed by the eruption of cyan light. Three more Elites readied their energy swords, the light of the plasma overexerting the cloaking device, highlighting their positions to the team. They dropped their cloaks completely, and jumped at Matthew, brandishing their mandibles in a cruel and unusual smile. The Spartan sidestepped and brought his fist to make contact with the chest plate of the Elite, his augmented body with his suits advancements concaved the surface in on its self, crushing its reptilian lungs. Its wide eyes staring into the gold visor of the Spartan, before it fell to the floor, gasping for air.

Foley was firing his rifle at the head of an oncoming Elite, its bullhorn like sword pointing towards the aging soldier. He dived to the left as the Elite tried to take him out. "This old Ranger still has a lot of fight in him." He mumbled, removing his bayonet, and tossing his sword, point towards the aging soldier. He dived to the left as the Elite tried to take him out. "This old Ranger still has a lot of fight in him." He mumbled, removing his bayonet, and tossing his now-empty rifle across the floor. He pulled out his pistol and held it in his other hand as the Elite came as swung over his body. He carefully dodged and dived the attacks looking for and opening in his opponent's swings and jabs. Alice gave Kelly one of her handguns before she hauled her into the cover of a data rack. Kelly shot at an approaching elite, as it marched up the path of her blood. The rapid flurry of firing emptied her magazine, instead of reloading; she tossed the sidearm and pulled out one of her own. This second magazine successfully downed the Elite, who fell onto the floor lifeless. Kelly reloaded her pistol and Alice swung around the data rack and fired two shots of her last battle rifle magazine into the shields of the Elite that Foley was fighting. The moment of hesitations from this attack, gave the opening that Foley needed, as he plunged the knife into the sword arm of the Elite, breaking its shields in the process, and unloading an unfriendly torrent of bullets into its skull.

Matthew reloaded his final magazine into his rifle and scanned the room for the sharp shooter. He caught the light pink glow in the dark room as the elite popped its head around the corner and tried to fire, only to have it promptly shot off by Matt. The Spartan moved to the door and towards the main command and nerve centre of the facility. He quickly waved his hand over the pad and the doors slid open as Alice and Foley dragged Kelly in behind him.

Linda, Ramirez, and Ross scanned the room for hostiles. "All clear, move up." The Spartan said sliding into the room. He braced against a number of the supporting arches for cover. The two others were moving swiftly into the ones on the opposing side of the hallway. The two of them had switched from their sniper rifles to their pistols. They continued down the hallway until they came to another door. It was locked down so Ross placed a C-12 directional charge against the seal and got back into cover. "Fire in the hole." He said as the large plume of fire and debris flew replaced the previously standing door. "Move." He shouted raising his near empty rifle into the air.

"Moving." They replied, following his lead as they came to a destroyed catwalk to the central UIAI access core. The large black, purple highlighted tower stood above a black abyss of sublimated dry ice, creating what looked like a sea of clouds. They saw a number covenant troops looking over the large device, a large squid like alien approaching the now exposed core, its long tendril limbs approaching and probing the outside panelling and controls.

"Linda, take that thing out."

"Way ahead of you" Linda said extending the rifle's bipod before lying down on the floor. "The blue squids my target?"

"Yes."

"Firing."


	37. The Core I

**MDAM- I know I might have said I would be updating this story a lot over the past month, and I have done the complete opposite, I have decided to explain myself. I have been very busy. Between having two exams back to back, which you already knew, I have also had to go to a funeral, revisit some schoolwork and do my physical test for a lifeguard job. So I have not really had a time to properly sit down and rattle away a number of words. Also I seem to have hit some writer's block, so I have that going for me too. Who would have thought writing a hundred-thousand-word book would be hard?**

C37: Core I

The bullet flew through the air and straight into the Engineer; the large number of explosives attached to its net erupted, igniting their gaseous ballast of hydrogen, knocking back the supervising Elites and Grunts. Matthew didn't stop in his tracks but rather kept moving forward. "Ross, Beth, you there?" he called over the radio, as he ripped a needler out the hands of a distracted Grunt before using his other hand and smashing its skull against the floor. He inserted his third and final grenade round and fired it into one of the small plasma turret nests that flanked the pathway over to the UIAI core.

"Myself and our team are firing off the west catwalk, its been destroyed but we should give sniper cover." The New Zealander said.

"Copy that." Matt tossed his rifle at an unsuspecting Grunt before hopping over the barricade while grabbing his newly procured needler. "Its good to see you are all alive." He imbedded the back of the needler into an Elites, passing past its shields before ripping it down, snapping them into shorter, sharper shards that reached critical mass and exploded in a purple flash. Matthew picked up its energy sword and swiped and stabbed his way to the walkway.

Foley and Alice remained behind in the cover of a data rack and tended to Kelly's wounds. He took out a small canister of biofoam and plugged the hole in her leg. She was lucky to have the needle round pass right through her leg rather than stay in for reasons Matthew just showed. The fast acting, off white, biopolymer formed and expanded in and around the injury, causing the airwoman to squirm in pain as it stretched it, before the localized painkillers took hold. He quickly popped his head around the corner, firing half of his final BR magazine as a number of Grunts were trying to make their way over to them and took half a fireteam out.

Alice grabbed Kelly's shotgun and moved around the rack to flank the oncoming Grunts. She checked the small spring-loaded counter at the side of the chamber to see how many shells she still had. She grabbed a non-lethal, and final, grenade and tossed it quickly into the fray, hiding back in cover as the disorientating multi-bang flashes both blinded and deafened the enemy troops. She made her way around the rack and raised her shotgun pointing it towards a group of slowly reorienting covenant troops. Step by step, she quickly made herself forward, firing and chambering a new round every other step, taking out an Elite, two Jackals and two Grunts. She swiped a strand of blonde hair out her eye before bringing her left hand down to the back of the shotguns stock and raising the barrel above her head, she swung it with all the strength she could muster.

The hot metal burnt the grey skin, before knocking the alien unconscious. Foley used the last of battle rifle magazine to keep giving the Lieutenant cover. She dropped the shotgun and hooked her arm around its neck and uses it as a meat shield. An Elite brought up its Type-51 rifle and released a storm of florescent carbine bolts. The limp body took most of the brunt, with a number of shots coming close to her arm. She grabbed the holstered plasma pistol at the side of the Grunts armour and charged it. The ball of tracking plasma was released and hit the Elite minor in square in the chest, enraging it. She dropped the charred remains of her shield and fired the remaining bolts into the large creature, singeing and melting its armour, before the fifth and final round finally killed it.

Another Elite, who grabbed her by the next, suddenly forced her back into the wall before brandishing a plasma knife. She clawed at the large hand, trying to breath, before a Foley jumped on its back and stabbed it in the cheek. "Come on and die already you piece of shit." The ranger growled as it stumbled back, and ripped the man of its back. Foley scrambled to his feet and turned around to face the creature one on one. "Ramirez! Shoot this bastard already!" He shouted, hoping to be heard over the fray.

There was no reply. _Shit._

Elite ran and tried to kill the man, by swinging the dagger at his head. Foley ducked and grabbed his pistol in his holster, while dodging a punch from the Elites right hand. He got out the other side and kicked the Elite in the back causing it to stumble, but not fall over. He pointed the pistol up and fired into its back. He pulled the trigger seven times but only got six shots.

_Click._

The magazine was finished. The Elite had recovered and faced aging soldier. He patted himself down for an extra Magnum magazine, to find there wasn't one. Matthew was busy dealing with Covenant troops on the catwalk. It ran at him, this time not underestimating the Army drop trooper. It's hand force Foley to the ground. He tried to struggle, but the Elite simply drove its plasma blade deep into the abdomen of the Ranger, causing him to scream in pain. It left both Kelly and Alice wide eyed.

Alice slowly got up onto her feet. She suddenly ran at the Elite and plunged her knife into its back. She quickly removed it again only to insert it in again, and again and again. "Fuck you." She shouted, the blood beginning to mark her face. "You squid lipped son of a bitch." It threw her off its back and onto the floor. She reached for her own pistol and fired half a magazine into its bloodied chest. It put its foot on her chest and brought down its knife.

She closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable, but only thing to fall on her was limp body of one hundred and fifty kilos of Sangheli muscle. She pushed up one side of the Elite up, and rolled from underneath. She saw the carbon rope and three people rappelling down it. She looked over to the core and saw Matthew had secured it and was now running down to see what the commotion was. She crawled over to Foleys wheezing body. She grabbed the field kit on the back of her armour and took out the biofoam canister. "Stay with me you stubborn bastard."

"Love of God, this hurts." He moaned. "After thirty years of fighting a technologically superior foe, I get killed by a fucking knife. That's irony right?" He coughed.

She placed the canisters opening in the wound, and pressed on the release button. "You aren't dead yet old man."

"As much as biofoam it's a feat of modern medicine, I have seen people die with it, the blood loss will get to be, if not the internal injury and organ failure."

"Well it doesn't hurt trying now, does it?"

"Your not the one with a stab wound in them." He said, an arm slung around her shoulders, Mason taking the other.

"You have survived worse sir." Mason stated.

"When?"

"When you took a needle round to the chest. And pulled it out with you bare hands, only to keep on killing Covie bastards, sir."

"Do you remember the last time you corrected me sergeant?"

"You kneed me in the crotch." He smiled. "I'd like to see you try in your current state."

The aging staff sergeant looked up at his subordinate and scowled. "I will try and stay alive and make your life a living hell for saying that, or you better get used to my ghost being a regular pain in the ass."

"Not like you aren't already sir."

The scowl dropped as he coughed up some blood. "Cheeky shit." They rested him against the side of the UIAI core. They turned around and saw Bethany and Douglas hoist Kelly onto her feet. They pulled her across the room and sat her next to the Foley.

Matthew saluted Bethany as she approached. "What's the plan? Are we destroying or extracting the AI?"

"The latter. That ground information is to valuable to leave behind." She said, before facing the whole group. "We need to hunker down as Rutland works his magic. We need to fortify this position for any possible attempts to seize this area."

"Ma'am." Rutland saluted, grabbing the large crystal storage device from his back and inserted it into the exposed UIAI core. "Encryption key ma'am?" He said pulling out the respective slots for the password encryption keys. It worked by installing every other one and zero on the first key and the rest of them on the second, making it impossible to crack without having the two of them. She passed them to him as he slotted the two black, SD card shaped chips into their respective colour-coded slot and bought up the password screen and typed it in. He turned on the transfer tab and began the sequence. "We have to wait five minuets ma'am."

"Copy that." She turned back to face the group. "Pick up any weapons you can, Covenant and UNSC. I think it might be wise to prep for trouble. Matt picked up the two plasma turrets that where situated behind the large purple, covenant barriers. They placed them side-to-side in front of the catwalk. She looked over to the destroyed catwalk that had ran above the data core. "Ross, do you copy."

"Yes ma'am."

"What's the situation like up there?"

"We are running low on sniper rounds ma'am. I still have the remnants of a my battle rifle ammunition, otherwise we are going to be dry in a matter of minuets."

"Copy that. Have two of you hold position while another goes and looks for something to shoot with."

"Copy that ma'am."

Matthew began manoeuvring three of the covenant barricades to block off the catwalk, creating a cut off arrowhead shape with the two turrets jutting out through the separation points. Alice, Mason and Douglas collected a large number of Covenant weapons and set them against the side of the purple barriers. Beth looked back at the progress bar on the screen; the progress merely passed a quarter.

_Bang._

Her head snapped to the right and faced the main entrance as a number of loud bangs and explosions began to sound. She reopened her radio channel and made her way to the front. She Douglas and Mason were already mounting the turrets as she strode to the front. Pointing down the open approach to the core she spoke to her team. "Hold that line, between the third data racks from the door. Don't let a single one pass. Copy?"

"Copy ma'am." Came the response from the squad.

Alice had propped herself up over the barricade with Matthew, both holding plasma rifles, while Kelly sat up on a pilfered crate with a covenant carbine trained and ready to fire as the shockwaves of directed antimatter charges detonating on the blast door. A large amount of dust and other particulates were kicked up in the air, but the team could still make out the number of blue, green, pink and purple highlights emanating from the weapons and armour of advancing Covenant forces. Beth picked up her own plasma carbine and followed Alice's suit before giving the order.

"Fire at will."


	38. The Core II

**MDAM- Another chapter for y'all. Hope you enjoy. MDAM out o_o7**

C38: Core II

An uncountable number of bullets and bolts flew through the air, impacting on metal, shields and flesh. The bottleneck of the doorway prevented a fast and overwhelming flood of covenant troops to flood through the door. Beth fired her carbine straight at the oncoming horde of Covenant troops. "Hold the line." She ordered as she glanced up at the timer she set up on her heads up display. _Only three and a half more minutes to go. _The Covenant was flowing through the door, using the small windows provided to them by the need for the plasma turrets and rifles to cool down and the carbines and human weapons needed to reload. Beth probed around her waist for a fragmentation grenade. She grabbed her final one and tossed it into the fray. "Frag out."

The small green 'softball' flew through the air and detonated in a small group of Grunts, who were cowering behind a husk of a fallen Elite, firing over the top of it. The grunts semi-shredded remains fell on the floor. "Ma'am, could you man the gun, I need to check out the core."

"No problem, Rutland." She moved over the turret and began concentrating fire on elites, taking their shields down before Alice removed its head from its body with a precision shot. "What's the status on the core Douglas?"

"We are half through."

"Can you cut it down and faster, are there any files you can skip over, like bank details and stuff?"

"Nope, with this setup it is all or nothing at all."

"Crap." She said getting back to the task at hand. There were a pair thundering thumps coming towards the entrance. _Oh, Sh…_ She didn't manage to finish her thought as two large Hunters clambered and ripped the door a larger hole, knocking a number of Grunts out the way at the waltzed down the front of the assault, baring their large plasma cannons. The dark highlights of the cannons lit up to a bright emerald green. "Every move out the way. NOW!"

Kelly rolled off the side of the crate, swearing as she thumped against the floor. She grabbed one of her pilfered plasma grenades. She ignored the pain in her leg and stood up. Tossing it in between a group of Elites, dropping their shields. She fired an uncontrolled burst of adrenaline-fuelled rage, killing all but one of the Elite Minors. She quickly ran out of cover and around to the start of the left data racks, but not before grabbing her laser sharpened titanium knife and plunging it into the startled neck of the final Elite. As she propped herself up, she pulled out her tactical first aid kit from a pouch on her vest and grabbed a level nine localized anaesthetic and plunged it into her offending leg. She grabbed a hold one of the grooves in the side of the data racks frame and pulled herself up, the pain in her leg becoming less and less prominent. She hobbled around the edge of the racks in an attempt to flank the covenant troops and possibly take out the hunters. A small group of Grunts tried to make their way around the UNSC group; Kelly just raised the two-pronged covenant rifle and fired off bolts of superheated plasma.

Foley crawled over to the core, clutching a carbine in his arms. He lifted himself up and rested his back against the metal terminal. He rolled to the side and coughed off a large amount of blood filled mucus. He moved back into position and pulled his carbine to his chest. He pulled his right knee up, using it a rest for his weapon. Taking a deep breath he began firing shots. Next to him was the winded body of Mason.

Mason attempted to grab a hold of something, anything, which would aid in pulling himself up. Grabbing the of the sheet metal barrier of the cores platform, he hoisted his body up and turned himself around, allowing him to get a better look at any wounds. He focused on his leg, the numbness from the initial disorientation fading, to find a large amount of needler shrapnel had shredded through his upper thigh. "Fuck." He bit, fiddling around with his vest, tears beginning to form around his eyes. The SICK-MS tactical med kit, or the Standard Issue Critical Kit for Medical Situations, was pulled out of its respective pouch on his armour. He grabbed a small can seven-millimetre canister of biofoam and flicked the DIN, or Directional Intrusion Nozzle, and pointed its exit port into the shrapnel wound and filled it in. He tossed the biofoam canister away and quickly wrapped it around with a bandage.

Beth had tackled Matthew with her and out the firing line of the Hunters. He found himself under her before she rolled off and jumped to her feet, swiping her carbine up in the process and firing down the side passage into a number of grunts in their attempt to flank the group. He was still in a slight state of shock that he didn't react faster than he did. He rolled over and pushed himself off the floor and onto his knees before standing up. He grabbed the plasma pistol on his hip and moved to her side. He shot a number of the green bolts down the side passage, before a number of Jackals began making their way down. Matthew grabbed the handles of one of the metal tiles that covered the walls of the room. Pressing the two triggers on either handle, the covers magnetic clips detached themselves. He swung the two and a half meter tall Titanium-A sheet onto its side giving both him and Beth cover. She popped in and out of cover firing her carbine into the advancing Jackals. Matthew on the over hand kept overcharging his plasma pistol and downing the enemies energy shield so Beth could quickly take them out with efficient headshots.

"I'm out." She told him.

"Prop the sheet up, Beth." He asked. She kept her hand flat against the non-chard side of the metal sheet. He lay down quickly, facing his feet towards metal, his knees at his chest. Suddenly he extended them, forcing the sheet to fly at a ridiculous speed towards the group of Jackals. He immediately got to his feet and advanced on them, firing the last of his plasma pistols rounds and ripping out his combat knife, forcing it deep into the skull of the Jackal. Beth came up behind him and barrelled into a number of Jackals before they had the chance to get up onto their feet and ready their weapons. The sheer momentum of a one-ton Spartan tackling a small avian bipedal alien crushed the hollow bones in its chest, rupturing and shredding a number of internal organs with bone fragments. The female Spartan jumped up and onto her feet, and followed Matthew's lead by removing the knife from her sheath and began killing Jackals in hand to hand combat. The Jackals sharp talons doing nothing against the energy shielding of the Spartans, who were cutting them down indiscriminately.

Ramirez and Linda were sitting at the top of the left catwalk and were rattling through the last of their rifle ammunition. "Last mag." Linda called out as Ross walked through the door with a number of new weapons in his arms and bloodstains on his armour.

He dropped the collection of plasma rifles and pistols on the floor. "Merry Christmas." He said tossing a magazine for the BR45HB that was resting beside the Ramirez. "Found it on a MetSec officer, half a mag, don't waste it."

"Cheers, sir." The Ranger responded as he finished took another elite.

"What did I miss?"

"Hunters," Linda said slowly as she fired another shot, this one firing at a stray plasma grenade left unnoticed on the floor in between a group of Grunts. Foley killing them off by briefly firing over his cover and ducking back it. Ross noticed a blue glow from the hands of an elite, aiming at the cover that Alice and Douglas were situated. He quickly grabbed the Battle Rifle at the side of Ramirez, loaded the half magazine, set it to single shot and aimed down the sight. He lined it up with the plasma grenade and fired. The blue ball exploded as the superheated protective casing of the plasma grenade exploded in the hand of the elite, killing it. Linda moved her head to the left to face the crouched Spartan and raised an eyebrow. "You sure you don't want the SRS?"

Douglas and Alice were currently stuck behind one of Covenant barriers. Douglas looked at a number of plasma grenades that he had placed on his bandolier and quickly removed it. "Fire in the hole." He shouted igniting one and tossing it at the feet of one of the Hunters. The slow moving behemoth didn't get a chance to get away from it before it blew up, vaporising the worms in under a second as the chain reaction of six plasma grenades. He threw his hands in the air. "Haha," he looked at Alice, "that worked?" Alice stared daggers at him and was about to retort before the sound of the other Hunter roared. She glanced over cover and saw the Hunter come barrelling down towards them. She tackled him across to the left of the room and out the path of the Hunters charge. The barrier they used for cover mere seconds ago was flying across the core's pit. It turned to face them. "You wouldn't happen to have another grenade would you?"

"Fuck you, Douglas!" She said, fiddling with a number of the covenant grenades around her belt. Tossing a pair of plasma grenades at the feet of the Hunter as it reoriented itself. They blew up but didn't kill the large covenant soldier. "Look what you have got us into, Doug! Christ!" She jumped back as its shield came within a meter of killing her. "If that thing kills us, I going to haunt you until the day you die." Douglas pulled her into a pile of debris as the Hunter swung its large elongated hexagon shield into the ground. The airman groaned as she landed on him. They both looked at the hunter and rolled to the side as the shield came crashing down on their previous position. The Hunters body quickly followed the shield as three vapour trails led to the shattered metal worm connectors. Douglas just gave a quick thumbs up to the sniper team. He rolled to the side and began to make his way back to the data core.

Kelly's eyes were drooping slightly from the injection of pseudopolymorphine, but she still moved down to the next row of data racks, she popped out behind cover and fired a number of plasma rounds into the back of an Elite, killing it. She stumbled and grabbed a hold of an insulated coolant pipe. She slid down the data rack and resisted passing out, the combination of fatigue and anaesthetic hitting her like a wall of drowsiness. Beth raced across the room and picked her up. Kelly removed a 'stim-stick' of caffeine citrate mixed with adrenal epinephrine, ethanol, and water and injected it into her abdomen. Her breath slow and laboured as she waited for the chemical to kick in. After two seconds the, chemicals kicked in, her pupils dilated and she threw up onto the ground.

Beth pulled her up and radioed Ross. "Meet us back up top."

"Copy ma'am, Anzac out." He replied. Alice and Matthew pulling Mason and Foley up onto their feet respectively. Douglas was behind them, removing a crystalline data chip out from the cores terminal. He walked over to the Lieutenant Commander and passed the UIAI data.

"Here you go."

"Charged set and ready to blow."

"By your command, ma'am."


	39. The Core III

**MDAM- Sorry for the late update, I was out on a Gold Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition, which cut deeply into my writing time. I also got a job (about bloody time), this means that I will have slightly less time to write, but since I am not at school, that shouldn't matter.**

C39: Core III

Douglas quickly removed a five by two and a half centimetre crystal data chip from the core. He unhooked his dog tags and fed the metal beads through the hole before clipping it back around his neck. "Matt got any more of those directional charges?"

The large Spartan sauntered over to the core and took off his day-sack and placed it on the floor next to the SAR soldier. Unzipping it he revealed eight large blocks of C12 shaped to send as much energy in one direction as it was physically possible. The airman looked surprised, much to the delight of the Spartan. "Remember we don't do things in half measures."

"Clearly." He replied as the Spartan turned around and began seeing to the two Army Rangers struggling on the small platform.

"Foley. How's the wound feeling?"

"Could be better. I would see to Mason first, his leg has seen better days." The Spartan looked over at the drugged up sergeant, attempting to keep his eyes open. The Spartan reached into the Rangers pocket and pulled out a stim-stick, stuck it in through a hole in his armour and injected it directly into the soldiers blood stream. It took a few seconds for it to truly take effect, but suddenly his heart was racing and his eyes dilated. Matthew rolled him into the recovery position and allowed the Army ODST to throw his guts up.

"Having fun Mason?"

"Fuck you, man. All I can taste and smell is sick."

"Yeah well, sucks to be you." He picked up the sergeant in a bridal fashion and carried him off next to the Kelly. He placed him down with his fellow sick mate. "Now play nice, sergeant."

"Bite me." He replied, Matthew gave a sympathetic smile and walked back to look over Foley. Kelly had already taken out her multi-tool and began removing metal parts of her Battle Rifle. She played with the barrel, and a number of the metal plates and with them to created a long, metal split with the screws. She wrapped the makeshift device to her leg with a pair of bandages that also acted as a tourniquet to stem the blood flow to her injured leg. She moved up onto her two feet and slowly applied pressure on the offending leg. She stumbled into a comfortable posture. She moved to one of the civilian medical kits near the data rack she had been sick on. She opened it and removed a number of bandages. She proceeded to wrap them around the metal parts that dug into her leg.

"Nice split, where you learn that?" Matthew said.

"Field medical course, all ground troops in the SAR are taught it. Don't you Spartans get instructed too, or are you lot all machines after all?" She smirked.

"Sure, all we need is a good oil exchange and servicing from time to time." He retorted as he picked up Mason into a bridal position, before calling to Beth. "We going or what, Beth."

"One sec Matt." She pointed the DIN of the tactical Biofoam canister into the reopened wound of the staff sergeant. She lifted him into a similar position that Mason was in. "Let's go." She called to Matt before redirecting to Ross. "Meet us surface side Ross. Rally point Bravo."

"Copy ma'am." Responded the Spartan.

"Matthew, lead the way. Alice, Douglas and Kelly." Their heads turned to face her. "Keep us covered will you?" She asked

"Yes, ma'am." They responded, before getting into position. Douglas covered the front Kelly and Alice the rear. Douglas walked towards the large blast door and stepped through the still warm fresh plasma cut.

He ducked and crouched, scanning the area for hostiles. "Clear. Move up." The rest of them filed out behind him, the two Spartans having, for once, enough of headroom, the one and only blessing that the Hunters gave.

"Move to the right Douglas, there should be a corridor that leads to a service ladder."

"Copy." He said while moving to a large doorway. Matthew moved the dead carcass of an Elite out the way as Douglas swiped his hand over the access panel; a yellow error sign came up. "Shit. Could you give us a little Spartan elbow grease?" He requested. Matthew dropped Price softly on the floor, before grabbing the semi-melted seam of the door. He steadied himself and tried to force it open.

"Come on you piece of shit." Matthew grunted as he attempted to open a fused shut door. He sighed and waved over to Douglas. "Pass that energy sword would you?" He passed him the covenant weapon; the Spartan ignited it and began the tedious process of cutting through the naval rated titanium.

"This would have been so much easier if we just took the rope up Matt."

"But then we would have to go through the tedious process of hoisting our injured out. And to be fair I didn't know that the covenant would try and lock us down here." He grunted, the plasma finally cutting through the door, he ripped the doors apart and let them into the corridor. "We can't even use the rope for the central service elevator, but it inaccessible due to the sheer number of those damn bugs crawling around in there." He picked up Mason again, but not before giving the sword back to its owner.

"To be fair, we never expected it to be this hard to get in to begin with."

Ross butted in over the comms. "Beth, in all honesty, did you really expect any mission, involving us, would be easy going?" They began to make their way down the corridor.

She quickly decided she didn't like the way this conversation was going. "Ross, where is your team's position?"

"We are running down the level SB-8, ring D corridor."

"Is that heading surface-bound?"

"Should be. What's your location?"

"We are SB-10, ring B corridor."

"Good, Anzac out." The channel closed as the group stealthy made to a service ladder. "I'll head up first, Matt you help get Folly and Mason up to SB-9."

"Copy ma'am." He said. The female Spartan clambered up the ladder and wheeled open the hatch. Resting it softly against the wall. She got to the top, followed by Douglas, Alice, and Kelly. Douglas passed his CNT rope to Beth who wrapped it thrice around her left hand and threw the loose end down the hatch. Matthew caught it and tied two knots before clipping Foley and Mason's carabiner clips to it. He tugged the rope twice. Beth began pulling the rope up and wrapped it around the length of her forearm. Alice and Douglas helped the two up and out the hatch and onto the metal floor. They unclipped them and Beth collected all the rope up again as Matthew climbed out the hole.

"We need to get them evacuated ASAP."

"So we are going to give them a piggyback to the surface now?"

"I don't see another way." He said picking up Mason. Beth reached into her trauma kit on the small of her back and grabbed a bandage and wrapping it around Mason's hand before looping them over Matt's head. She grabbed one from Matthews and wrapped it around Foleys. She lifted the Staff Sergeant up and Alice placed the restrained arms around Beth's head. "And this is why I like working alone."

Matthew tilted his head, his depolarized faceplate showing his humoured expression. "Well, you surprise me again Beth, not a people person. Who would have guessed?"

"Shove it up your ass Matt." She said leaving an amused Matthew in his place. They began to proceed down the corridor; Kelly and Alice swapped by taking the front and Douglas the back.

The exited the service corridor and entered one of the large main pathways that lead to one of the Data-rack come elevator's they had used before. The corpses of a number of covenant soldiers, lay still as they stepped over them. They came to a corner. Alice and Kelly stacked up against the wall; Alice swung around and scanned the area. She waved them on. _This is all too quiet for my liking._Beth thought to herself, the laboured breath of the staff sergeant in her ear. They moved quickly and quietly from cover to cover, keeping themselves hidden from possible enemies. Matthew called in her ear.

"Beth, where the hell is the enemy?"

"I don't know, they should still be somewhere around here. But the sooner we are out, the better."

"Copy that," Matt responded as he got to the data rack control panel and pressed the button, then again, and again. "Oh, Sh…" He didn't manage to finish his sentence before a hailstorm of plasma rocketed down the hallway, causing the entire extraction team to dive to the floor. The two Spartan removed the two Army Rangers off their backs.

"I guess the saying is true; if your attack is going too well, your walking into an ambush," Mason said as he and Foley crawled into the cover of the control panel. He grabbed his magnum pistol and began firing out the side of the cover.

"Change of plan, there should be another service ladder, fifty meters down that corridor," Matthew said, indicating to the door to the left of the data stack. The group moved, Matthew and Beth pulling the two downed Army Rangers behind them as Douglas opened the door. "Go, Go, Go." He said, Kelly and Alice following behind the two Spartans before Douglas closed the door. They legged it down the service tunnel to the next ladder. Kelly, Alice, and Douglas began making their way up the ladder, Matthew attaching the CTN rope around his waist as he clambered up after the AFISA soldiers. Beth attached the rope Foleys carabiner and was about to attach it to Masons. He simply put up his hands and shook his head.

"Ma'am, go on. I'll slow them down for you."

"Aye, right." Beth said sarcastically. "Shut up."

"Trust me. I'll just be a burden to the group." He said while removing a fragmentation grenade from his belt. "Plus I will be taking a few with."

"Mason." Foley said. "Don't be an idiot." There was a large metal thud as the door was breached.

"Go." He said.

Beth looked back and forth between him and the staff sergeant. She gritted her teeth and tugged on the rope twice. "Fuck you." She seethed as Foley was pulled up, dropping two unlit plasma grenades, before climbing up behind the staff sergeant. She got to the next level and closed the hatch. "We need to go."

"Where is Mason?"

"Buying us time." She said. "Let's not waste it." She said moving down the corridor. The others looking at her in confusion, until the unmistakable sound of the UNSC standard issue pistol echoed down the long corridors of the facility.

Mason sat in the dark, his pistol raised and aimed down the corridor, an armed grenade in his left hand, the only thing preventing it from exploding being his hand gripping the ignition trigger.

It was a dead-mans-switch.

His left hand rested next to two pairs of armed but not primed plasma grenades, the micro fusion reaction in their cores starting and powering up, a simple explosion would release their contained energy. He propped himself up as the pattering of feet slowly approached from down the red-lit tunnel. His breaths were slow, laboured, but this didn't stop the ever growing smile grow on his face. _This is it, there is no running, no hiding, just them and me._ He deepened his breaths further as the eerie white glow of an ignited energy sword revealed itself, a fog of ionized humidity and air flowing off the blade like a fountain of smoke. He shot, the bullets shimmering the shields gold. He shot again and again until his magazine was empty, he quickly reloaded, the elite in full sprint. He unloaded it, again breaking through its shields and killing it as a pistol round embedded itself inside the skull of the advancing Elite. It was followed up by a swarm of Grunts and Jackals. He emptied his final magazine before a needle suddenly jutted out of his chest. The grenade slipped out of his hand and bounced next to the others.

_One._

The smile grew to its widest as he stared down the advancing Buzzard.

_Two._

The Jackal he was staring down, slowed down, but still advanced, confused by the malicious happiness gleam in his eyes.

_Three._

The Jackal glanced around the Ranger before its eyes were drawn to the red arming switch of grenade, followed by the sight of a number of plasma grenades.

_Four._

The Jackal attempted to halt itself before the grenade went off. Its attempts were futile, because as soon as it tried to escape away from the ranger, the grenade detonated, sending fragments of metal flying into the ODST and the grenades next to him. This damaged the containment layer of the plasma grenades, releasing their pent-up energy in a large blue blast. This sudden increase in heat vaporised the surrounding covenant troops within a three-meter radius of sergeant. The sudden release of heat also caused a number of the liquid nitrogen coolant in the wall to suddenly evaporate, causing the high-pressure pipes to rip open, sending pieces of metal piping to fragment and fire from the wall and rip through the shieldless covenant up to ten meters down the corridor.

**PS- Death number one. They may be badass, but they aren't invincible. So this is the second character death, and this one will begin to show the decline of Beth into solitude and her way as a lone wolf. Sorry for the delay**


	40. The Core IV

**MDAM- So Mason is dead. This is the beginning of Beth turning into a lone wolf, with teammates dying, with her playing a significant part in it. This will put emotional and mental stress on her and, may lead to lapses in her judgement.**

C40: Core IV

As the explosion and cries started, Beth was walking briskly down the corridor with Matthew glaring daggers behind his visor and Foley drifting in and out of consciousness. The Douglas, Alice and Kelly walking behind, the slow realisation of what was happening was dawning on them. "She just left him down there to die." Alice said, surprised by the sudden click of the blatantly obvious puzzle.

Beth angrily thumbed the door, bringing it to open. This led them to another main corridor, the one that Ross's team had used previously. The data rack was at rest and the operation panel looked as if it had little to no damage. They advanced and grouped on it. This should support the weight of a Spartan and two people. Matt and Kelly, you take Foley up the next level. If you get into trouble, give me a buzz, copy?"

Matthew sighed reluctantly before responding. "Yes ma'am." Lugging the staff sergeant and resting him on the top of the rack, Kelly stood next to him, resting weight on her less damaged leg. "Good to go ma'am." He announced. Beth responded by lightly punching the large switch that started the stacks ascent upto sub-level seven. Beth, Douglas and Alice kept their guard up, stepping into the foxhole cover that the rack produced. Douglas rested his covenant carbine on the ledge, quickly replacing the small kitchen funnel shaped charge pack with a newer, one with a greater charge. Spartan cleared her mind, and Alice kept sweeping the room for foes. Matthew spoke over the speakers as the rack came to a stop. "Ma'am, we are here, sending it back do… Bollocks, dive out the way." The sound of exchanging plasma fire could be heard above their heads, a blue glow emanated through the circular separation between the data rack and the sides of the shaft, the metal casing melted and began to cool, fusing the rack and wall together.

Beth quickly ran to the panel and attempted to lower the rack before the wall and data core became one, but the cryogenic coolant had cooled the metal together at extremely fast rate. "Shit. Matt are you all good up there?"

"The two of us are holding our ground, ma'am. But Foley is out, still breathing mind, but out of it nonetheless." He said, the pulsed of a plasma rifle could be heard over the radio. "Get that package out of here, ma'am."

"Meet us on the surface, copy?"

"Yes ma'am, but if we take longer than ten minuets, go on without us."

"Copy that Matthew. See you topside. Milton out." She kicked the side of the makeshift foxhole. "Shit!" She shouted before turning to Douglas and Alice. "We move now. There should be a similar ladder down that way." She hopped over the dented wall of electronic buses. She pulled the two AFISA agents out of the hole after her and made her way to the door, quickly waving over the senor, opening them. She swiftly took point and began to quickly make her way down the corridor.

A grunt walked around the corner, Beth simply took it out with a headshot, and primed a plasma grenade, tossing it down the side corridor. The AFISA agents trying to keep up, jumping past the corridor as the surprised grunts and jackals recoiled from the sudden appearance of the plasma grenade. Explosion quickly killed a number of them before they tired to advance and take them out. Alice, who was at the back, kept suppressing the Covenant troops as they attempted to advance and cut off the three of them.

"Keep moving, don't stop."

"How much further."

"The next left should take us to the ladder, but we are going to the move right and head up one of the other Data Racks, I believe they are expecting the former."

"Copy that ma'am."

The three of them skidded to a halt as they came to the triangular door. Beth gave it a quick wave over and opened it up. They found the data rack was still on their level. Beth quickly pressed the large red button and hopped onto the rack, the trio forming a triangular position, keeping every angle covered. The red cylinder began to lift itself up to sub-level seven, the white lights of the crystal data busses streaming down their bodies as if they were scanning them. _Come on…_ Beth thought impatiently as it continued upwards.

Her head poked above the lip of the rack, and immediately grabbed her pilfered plasma pistol and began to overcharge it. By the time that the satisfying clunk of the rack securing its self to the upper platform, Beth had released the green pulse, the guided projectile of superheated gas came in contact and immediately dropped the shields on the back of an unsuspecting Brute chieftain.

"All units, fire." She said as the pistol cooled itself down. The red light turned green, and she began to unleash the remnants of the pistols energy into the front of now turned Brute. It fell to the floor, then only to be killed with a precise shot from Alice. By now the rest of the group of Covenant troops had realised what was going on, though a few had been taken out by Douglas's carbine and Alice's rifle fire. "Move into cover. The supporting pillars should be more than enough. Copy?"

"Yes ma'am." They both shouted as they ran and slid in behind a large Titanium I-beam to the right of the rack, with Beth taking the left. Beth tossed away the now drained pistol and tossed it across the room, she removed the carbine. The covenant adapter in the grip linked up with the Spartan's HUD, showing her the crosshairs of carbines sights. This allowed her to aim down the sight without putting her in danger of being shot, but it did make recoil interesting and her shots less accurate.

She had little to no ammunition left, so she decided to shoot at a number of Grunts, getting the largest numbers of troops down with the least ammo used. She then chucked the rifle over and grabbing the knife she had in her chest sheath. She pulled it out while calling over to her teammates. "I am going to get out of cover. Keep them supressed will you?"

"Yes ma'am." They responded. _Three, two, one…_ she counted, before keeping low and diving behind the control panel. She countered her momentum and sprung back the other way, the Covenant expecting her to continue in same path. She used the change in momentum to vault over the panel and began to run towards a lower ranking Brute. She tackled the ape like creature to the ground, using the sheer amount of mass her armour provided to take it down onto the ground, easily breaking its shields, blade pointed towards its jugular. She buried the knife deep into the throat of the creature, and using the momentum she still had rolled and grabbed another Brute around its neck. She forced her armour to constrict suddenly around its neck, snapping its spinal cord in the process. She turned it around to face a number of Jackals, who were firing a number of plasma pistols and needlers. She grabbed the type-25 rail carbine pistol side arm, or spiker, from its holster. This variant didn't have iconic twin blades at each side of the barrel, so it could be handled with greater ease. She pointed it at the exposed wrists of the covenant troops, who's shots simply hit the and embedded in the brutes corpse or simply skimmed off the her shielding, and held down the trigger.

The Brute SMG, mass drove Ferro-Tungsten spikes into the shields, hands and weapons of the Jackals, causing them to flinch, only to be filled with the same aforementioned spikes. She took out the better half of them, but the Brute was slowly filling up with large amounts of purple needles. She grabbed the extra few magazines, and stuck them in a hard case, before kicking the Brute forward, toppling over, the needles shattering as they came in contact with the floor, this caused the brute to ignite into a pink-purple flash of light and smoke, causing the Jackals to drop their guard and damage their shields. Beth used this to drive four consecutive spikes into the heads of the Jackals.

She nodded at the two AFISA soldiers who were busy killing a number of Grunts, with precision accuracy. Alice called out to the Lieutenant Commander. "Ma'am duck." Beth immediately obliged, as a torrent of green covenant carbine shots, passed overhead and shimmered off the shielding of a cloaked Elite Zealot. Beth reacted on instinct and drove the still hot spiker into its core and unleashed a torrent of rounds. She kept firing while bringing down her knife. The shields gave out a burst as they broke. The knife penetrated its neck, killing it.

"Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem."

"Keep your eyes peeled. Where there is one Zealot, much like a cockroach, there will be more." She said picking up a needler from the floor. She was scanning the room whilst walking down towards the, her eyes tracing to and from the motion tracker at the bottom left of her heads up display and the room in front of her. The tracker was not acting up… yet, it still only had two yellow dots behind her. "Halt slowly, we have company." She commanded, strange interference showed up on her motion tracker. She raised her needler.

A shower of green shots sounded out from Douglas carbine. Her eyes were drawn immediately to the shimmering shields and the overcharged plasma. She turned her needler to face the elite, only to be tackled by an Elite. Knocking her to the floor, luckily it didn't ignite its sword, probably to hide its position. Beth's spiker was launched from her hand and flew across the floor. A large green bolt plastered itself across the shielding of the Elite. Beth immediately grabbed her combat knife and dug it into the Aliens leg, causing it to scream in pain. She got out from under the creature. She immediately got stomped on the Elites shooting hand, her heel breaking its wrist. She quickly sliced its throat.

Beth looked up and saw a combination of fire from Alice and Douglas bringing down the shields of an Elite, eventually killing it. "Thanks for the cover."

"No problem ma'am. Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine. Just a little, you know, shocked?"

"Come of Milroy."

"I am not leaving Foley behind."

"We don't have," she fired a number of rounds down the corridor, "the ability to get him out. Even a Spartan wouldn't be able to take out all those guys."

Matthew punched a dent in the wall. "Fuck!"

"Milroy?" the realisation hit her like a ton of bricks. "This is the first time you have left someone behind, with you in charge, isn't it?"

"It won't be." He said, readying his newly acquired needler. He was about to set off, when Kelly grabbed his arm. "Shaddock, let me go."

"Milroy, listen to me. He is likely dead already."

"No he can't be."

"We have covenant flowing through from the rack room, the room were we left him. Use some logic, he is dead and we are not, at least we wont be if we actually get moving. So suck it up and move." She said. "Lets not let him die in vain."

He took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do this thing." He gripped his needler tightly as the two of them raced down the maze of interconnecting tunnels. They clambered up a service ladder. "This should take us to the upper section of sub-level seven. There should be another ladder nearby that will lead us to sub-level eight."

"What's the plan anyway?" She asked as Matthew began to climb.

"We are to meet them on the surface." He opened the hatch, only to come face to face with the barrel of a BR45HB battle rifle. He looked up and his eyes widened. "Ashleigh?"


	41. The Climb

**MDAM- My computer is no longer crapping out on me any more, so that's good, the track pad was fucked beyond belief and I had to get it serviced, so sorry about that. Luckily I managed to get a fair bit of work done on my tablet so I was just easily able to email my self the text and plug it in. So here it is, hope you enjoy. MDAM out. o_o7**

C41: Climb I

"Ashleigh?" Matthew said, looking slightly shocked as the Spartan aimed the barrel of her battle rifle in his face.

"Sir?" She said holstering the weapon, and giving him a hand out of the ladder passage and up into sub-level six. "Where are the rest?"

"We got separated." Kelly said, taking the Spartans hand. "Mason and Foley are both dead." She said.

"Oh." She said attaching a plasma grenade onto the bottom of the hatch, igniting it and quickly locking it down. The sudden explosion melted and fused the titanium-A hatch to create a permanent seal against the mating connection ring. "We better get moving then." She removed a NB District Council duffle bag.

"Please." Matthew said, as the Spartan unzipped the bag revealing three BR35HB's, with blue and white police paint, with a number of extra ammunition magazines. "I don't want to spend another minuet more than I have to in this fucking place." He said removing rifle, dropping his covenant weapon on the floor. He passed a second one to Kelly.

Kelly loaded, and pulled back the cocking handle, loading the first bullet. She turned to the Major who was using a Police sniper rifle as a crutch. She had a shotgun strapped on her back, with another duffle bag. "How are you ma'am?" Kelly asked.

"Breathing." She said. "Though I'm taking it slow until I see a doctor." Began to move, the Spartans taking the front. "Myself and the petty officer had a good heart to heart, didn't we?"

"What is it between you two anyway, is it something about having the same name or something?" Matthew asked.

"Let's just say it's classified."

"Is it?"

The Spartan responded. "It is." The four of them moved into position at the entrance of the sub-level six's main corridor. They opened the door, and did a quick security sweep of the position.

"Move out, keep close to the walls." Matthew ordered quietly. They walked as fast as Kelly and the Major could stumble at, with Matthew picking up the Duffel bag from the Major, allowing her to walk faster. Matthew halted at a corner, swinging his rifle around while aiming down the sight. He immediately retracted. "We have a group of five Jackals and six Grunts with an Elite commander. Petty officer, follow me, ma'am, Kelly, keep this side locked down and provide covering for us." He asked, receiving a nod from Major.

The two Spartans ran silently, unlike something their size should, across the corridor and into cover. They snuck around the server towers that flanked either side of the group. Ashleigh placed her fingers on the arming button of a plasma grenade. She glanced at Matthew, who nodded at her, silently confirming her plan.

She armed and activated the plasma grenade and tossed it at the Elite, it stuck to it, and detonated, surprising the Grunts and Jackals, Matthew and Ashleigh popped out of cover and fired into the enemy. The two of them went for the Jackals first, as they where not as annoying to deal with before their shields where brought up to defend them. They managed to down four of the five; Kelly, who with the help of the major was taking care of the grunts, shot the last. Matthew ran forward and cut the three remaining grunts down before they had a chance to recuperate.

The major stumbled out. "Lieutenant, what the hell was that?" She exclaimed.

"Trust me, we ran out of ammo and had to start scavenging further down, you don't want that to happen." The Spartan stated.

"The next time, tell me so. The last thing we need, are more dead or injured soldiers."

"Yes ma'am." He replied, reluctantly, as the four of them moved further around the facility, the petty officer picking up a plasma grenade off the corpse of a Grunt Ultra, before stepping over it. The four of them reformed their defensive pattern, keeping to the wall, with Kelly keeping her rifle aimed down from where they came in the event that some covenant troops attempted to attack the team. They came across the remains of the Carbon Nanotube rope that Matthew's and Kelly's fireteam had used to drop to sublevel six from sublevel five. Matthew grabbed a rope and offered it to the petty officer. "Ashleigh, climb up the rope and get a good hold. When you receive two tugs, pull it up and help the person untie themselves." He asked, getting a nod in return, followed by one of the fastest rope climbs he had ever seen.

He clipped on the major to the petty officers rope and Kelly to the one he was going to man. He tugged the major's rope twice and she began to ascend to sublevel five. Matthew then clambered one of the two spare ropes with a similar pace to that of the major, who was merely a meter above his head. He flopped his body over the edge while 014 helped undo the clips and carbineers that held her secure. Matthew pulled up Kelly quickly but safely, spooling the spare CNT rope around by his feet. He grabbed the back of the special airwoman's harness and pulled her back over the edges threshold. He heaved her across and began unclipping her from the rope before retightening the bandages that kept her leg in place.

"How you keeping Kelly?"

"Just fi… mmph" She winced as the bandage suddenly restricted her leg. "Just fine."

"Clearly." He pulled the soldier to her feet. "I am not letting anyone else die on me today."

"I will hold you to that, if I die, expect to be haunted till the end of you days."

"Good god, what will be worse, the nagging or the initial fright." He said in an attempt to lighten the situation. "Shall we?"

The four of them advanced up towards sublevel four.

Beth, Alice and Douglas scooted themselves up sub-level four. They could feel the temperature drop from the coolant leak one level above. The two AFISA agents were already rolling down their tan camouflaged shirts again. They were breathing out visible condensation as they moved quickly and silently through the tunnels, attempting to produced little to no sound. There passage was to quiet for their liking, with almost no resistance, with exception of two Grunt patrols and a lost Jackal skirmisher. This lack of enemy contact was beginning to make the group worry. Little worry at first, but as their trek continued upwards, where more and more Covies should have been, this little bout of doubt began to become a pestering feeling pressing the back of their minds. Sure they heard the exchange of gunfire that echoed through the dimly lit halls.

Beth pointed two fingers toward the wall and the two airmen walked towards it, keeping a semi crouched position before backing up into the wall, their covenant weapons ready to spring out at a moments notice. Beth looked around the corner, noticing the first checkpoint that they had come across on their way up. But unlike before, were they were trying to keep them out, the set up of the point was in reverse with the heavy turrets facing in their direction. She pointed at herself and directed her fingers across the hallway, before pointing at them, tapping her helmet and finally pointing at herself again. The two nodded, signalled okay and proceeded to prep for possible covering fire. The Spartan put up three fingers and counted them down. _Three, two, one._

She ran across the hallway slipping behind a data rack, and raised her carbine. The two of them looked at her for orders. She simply pointed down the hall and them moved her upper arm firmly to her side, her forearm horizontally perpendicular to her body to them move the forearm back and forth, before quickly tapping her wrist thrice. They both gave the okay symbol with their hands and braced themselves.

Three seconds passed and the team dropped out of cover. Beth was aiming for a Grunt controlling one of the two turrets, with Alice taking the other and Douglas aiming for a Jackal holding a beam rifle (seeing him as the biggest threat). The three of them dropped their targets and began lining up their second targets before the covenant had a chance to react. They fired of another three round between them, taking out a trio of Jackals before they got their shields up. By this point the Covenant troops had fully clicked onto what was happening, and either readied their shielding or dived into cover, their weapons pointing through the slots of the purple barricades.

Beth tapped her head, and pointed at herself. The others signalled okay in response. She moved out of cover and into the field of fire. Douglas had switched to his plasma rifle and used the rapid fire weapon to supress the enemy troops by landing bolts of blue on purple metal, melting sections of it into a bright orange before cooling it off, leaving a soot covered indent. Beth ran up to said barrier, Douglas holding his fire, and planted both her feet on the upper section of the cover, causing it to roll over onto the three Jackals who were behind it. The managed to stagger back, but came face to barrel of the Spartans rifle. She fired a shot through its face and killed it, before swinging the rifle to the side and striking another in the face, before she removed a knife from her chest plate and planted it in its neck. The last Jackal attempted to raise its plasma pistol, but was stopped when a titanium gauntlet wrapped itself around its throat and picked it up. Covering about eighty per cent of her body with the buzzard, she used it to absorb the majority of the shots fired at her. She tossed it to the side into a grunt before tackling the commanding elite into a support I-beam bending it slightly and dropping the elites shields, the force made the split-lip drop the needler in its hand. She quickly grabbed the sword at the elites side and rammed it through its chest and into the steel behind it.

The grunts, being grunts, panicked at the sight of their commanding officer being removed from its mortal coil. Alice and Douglas used this to their distraction, with the Jackals all turned around; they killed six remaining Jackals before using the remaining Grunts as target practice. They dropped out of cover, and began moving up to the overturned barrier, firing as they walked. "All targets down, I think." Alice said. "Though we may have attracted unwanted attention." She bent over the corpses of the Jackals and removed the spare carbine ammunition cores. She tossed two of the cores at Beth and another pair at Douglas before replacing her depleted covenant plasma rifle with another with a greater charge. "So shall we."

Beth nodded in response and began to walk down the corridor, popping out her near empty core and replacing it with one with a more reasonable ammunition count. The two followed her as they made their way to the 'elevator' data rack. The airman and woman stood up on the rack at the Spartan pressed the button that began its accent to sub-level three. She hopped onto the rack and fell into the triangular formation, and crouched onto her knee, her carbine up. The two of AFISA agents were really beginning to feel the cold as they began to shiver. Their head popped over the edge of the rack slot and were relieved to find no enemies present.


	42. The Climb II

**MDAM- A little late, but a little longer. I wont be uploading for a fortnight because I am going to Bavaria for a DofE Gold expedition, directly followed by moving up north to my college halls of residence and starting my two year HND course in Interaction Design. So I have no idea how many hours will be devoted to that, especially now that I have to look after myself. Any way, enjoy this chapter, MDAM out o_o7**

C42: The Climb II

Ross kicked pulled himself out of the ventilation duct and immediately began heaving Ramirez and Pravdin out after him into the cooling desert evening. He grabbed a beacon from his daysack and quickly imputing his authorisation code before tossing the tissue box sized radio transmitter on the floor. He grabbed another small contraption out of his pack and placed it on the floor, a small arm with a cylinder attached was aimed at a cell tower on the top of one of the three bladelike towers that surrounded the three of them. Linda dusted herself off. "May I ask what you are doing?"

"ONI, in their brilliant paranoid need secrecy and control have placed LasCom receivers on almost every cell tower constructed in the past… forty years? I think? Not quiet sure, it may be fifty." He shrugged. "But basically it is a one way communication to a single ONI relay station, who then deals with the information appropriate people."

"But wouldn't the EMP have knocked it out?"

"Ah, but that is the best bit. This is all an analogue system, it uses mirrors with a multitude of redundancy towers, lasers and two people with knowledge of Morse code."

"But how do you tell the difference between one person an another?"

"First we send a ID signal three times, fore example." He began to tap the button on the small device. "O-N-I-S-I-I-I-G-0-0-2 or Office of Naval Intelligence Spartan III G-002. That is my personal ID with yours being say A-F-I-S-A-S-A-R-P-R-A-V-D-I-N. They would then tie the lasers light frequency and amplification to an ID, with specialised light sensors lighting up and telling the operator who is talking, though there are both paper and digital back ups."

"I see, but this is only one way."

"A one way connection is better than no connection. For instance if there was no EMP, I could send an entire digital data file through the LasCom system. After all a digital file is just ones and zeros, on and off, laser and no laser." He continued as he proceeded to tap away at the small box.

"So what are you sending at the moment?" Ramirez asked

The lieutenant stopped and faced the Corporal with a non-polarised, a large grin behind the visor "A Pelican and a ass load of guns, of course."

"Grenade!" Shouted Kelly at the major as who promptly lifted herself quickly over an flipped data rack, lifting her sniper and aiming it at the Elite who threw it, firing a high calibre round into its face as the grenade exploded. The major then scrambled quickly towards the sergeant, who pulled her into cover. The lieutenant and the petty officer dove to either side of the main corridor of sublevel two, each using the large data racks as protection. Matthew grabbed two hand sized plastic latches that when pulled away from the wall, unlocked a covering panel for a number of data-buses and coolant pipes. He pulled the panel away from the wall and popped out of cover, using the metal sheet as a makeshift tower shield. He took the police variant pistol from his side and began to walk towards the enemy, his left hand in the latch as a handle and his right extended out the side of the 'shield' firing at the enemy.

The two Ashleigh's on the other hand held back and continued giving covering fire for the advancing Spartan. Kelly was instead playing with the police's weaker variant of C-12, C-4, and kneaded a couple of grams into a ball with a detonator attached. "Fire in the hole!" She shouted before tossing the white ball into the back of the hall and waited ten seconds before detonating it, giving the Covenant a false sense of security, thinking it was a dud. The C-4 was stronger than she expected, especially for civilian police use, causing the creation of a small indent in the floor.

"Move up." The major ordered as the team advanced to the penultimate elevator. She braced herself up on her rifle with the barrel pointing down on towards the top of the cylinder. She carefully removed the magazine and proceeded to reload her weapon. She rubbed her chest, the plasma burn coursing pain throughout her body. A hand softly landed on her shoulder. She took a deep breath.

"No problem." 014 said, squeezing her good shoulder lightly.

Matthew pushed the spare battle rifle ammunition into his TAC-Hard Case and inserted a fresh magazine into the receiving slot and loaded the first round into chamber by cocking back the lever and propped the rifle against his shoulder. The four of them began to run down the corridor, Ashleigh offering the major a hand, as Kelly took point and Matthew defended their rear. Kelly got to the elevator ladder shaft that the team had originally used to descended into the facility, with it likely to be the least guarded by the covenant forces. Kelly climbed the ladder with her split supported leg hanging limp as her other three limbs hoisted her up. Matthew called up to Kelly. "Chuck down the CNT rope." A spool of black rope pooled beside the ladder and the lieutenant picked it up and passed it to the petty officer. "Wrap it around her waist, I'll go up an hoist her to the ground floor.

She nodded in response and began fiddling with the majors' harness like webbing as Matthew made his way up to the surface with little to no effort needed. "Matt, here you go." She passed the end of the rope to the lieutenant. She gave him a once over.

He called over the radio. "Position?"

"We are currently one floor above in the interior garden." Came the patchy reply from Beth.

"Copy that, Milroy out." He replied.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." He said, sighing slightly.

"There was nothing that you could have done."

His depolarised visor allowed his eyes to stare right at her, his face scrunched up slightly in quiet misdirected rage. "There was. I left him to die, what kind of officer does that. I have known him for over six years. Do you know what the worse thing is, I have to go to his wife and kid, and tell them that he is dead, that he got killed because of my own incompetence as his acting CO." He felt two tugs on the rope, he calmly began pulling the major up.

"No, you made a decision on the fly, Matthew, just like Beth did with Mason. That is what being an officer is about, not making fatal hesitation, you may regret your choice in the end, but it was better than inaction. Inaction would have got us both killed. You made the correct call."

"But at least you don't have to live with it."

"No, but think about the positive, it got two of us out alive rather than none. I think the Staff sergeant would easily be able to forgive you for keeping as many of us safe."

When Matthew, Kelly, Ashleigh and the major arrived on the surface, Beth's team had already set up a perimeter. "What's this situation?"

"We have asked for a pelican extraction from out position."

"We got a green light via SATCOM. Unfortunately, that has attracted some unwanted attention from Covenant forces. Set up a defensive position." She said, before turning to the two Ashleigh's. "You two okay?"

"Just peachy." The major responded. "Anyone got anymore MediGel?" she said removing a small tub of painkillers, removing two and swallowed both without water. "I think I might have just damaged the biofoam gauze."

"Move her to the back." Beth ordered.

Matthew looked at Beth in the eyes. "You okay?"

"Fine." She dismissed, refusing to meet his gaze. "Truly, all good." She defended, raising her hands up in front of herself. "Just a little shocked you know." She gave him a quick smile. "I have never lost anyone before." She bit her lip. "I'll live through it. Don't worry about me." She said, tapping his upper arm, before walking away.

_Has she even realised that Foley isn't here?_ He wondered, the roof above him has shattered from Phantom drop ship deployment, allowing a dust and sand to start collecting and building up against the walls and tree trunks of the garden. A number of UNSC and Covenant crates littered this central location. With one side more open, allowing for safe troop deployment and ship landing. They barley had time to set themselves up before the first wave of Covenant troops moved into position.

Douglas kept his head down and had a look a the wounds his commanding officer had sustained. She squirmed delicately under him. "Ma'am, are you okay?"

"I feel really light headed."

"014, could you pass me a saline solution?" He asked the Spartan, who just simply pushed the police duffle bag towards him. He unzipped it and plugged the needle into her arm, and putting the bad on the ledge of the wall she was slumped against. "okay, I need you to try and stay with me as long as you can."

"I'll try. But it's all a little cold" She said. He grabbed the bag and pulled out a TIB, Thermal Isolation Blanket, and wrapped her in it.

"There you go, ma'am." He straightened his back, only to go back into cover as a needle bolt flew overhead. "Bastard." He muttered. He grabbed his plasma rifle and began to give fire support.

Bethany, Ross and Matthew heard the radio buzz. "Someone called for a ride?"

Matthew almost laughed. "Major Tung, good to hear you're still alive."

"Well someone has to look after you."

The Pelican began its decent into the exposed roof of the interior garden. The hatch slowly began to open as it lowered itself exposing a large AFISA security agent and his already spun up machine gun. He began spraying a large number of bullets across the room, impacting and ripping through the covenant troops like tissue paper. Pierre shouted in his deep baritone Madagascan accent. "Get your collective asses in here."

The Spartans all looked at one another and nodded. Beth turned to face the Douglas, Alice, Kelly, James and the Major. "Get yourself into the pelican, we'll provide covering fire."

The five of them nodded and moved swiftly towards the rear hatch, the major's arms looped around the necks of the James and Douglas, her feet dragging behind them. The corporal shouted at the ginger lieutenant who had just filed out the back of drop ship. "Get us a burn relief kit."

She looked at the corporal for a second, dropping the front of her battle rifle and tossing it onto one of the seats, before rummaging through the upper railing. Heaving a heavy green Crit-Response first aid case and ungracefully dropped it on the floor. The army ranger and the AFISA agent propped the major up in a deployment seat. Douglas grabbed a doctor's torch from the case and opened the majors' eyes. "C'mon ma'am." Her eyes didn't dilate. "Pass the vitals reader." Douglas placed a small phone sized device in his hand. He held it against the neural lace in the back of her head, giving him important information. He slumped back. "She is stable but non-responsive." He turned to the lieutenant. "Keep a close eye on her, we can't loose another one today." She nodded taking the device out of the hand of Douglas and began to look at the reopened wound. He made his way out the Pelican, grabbing a battle rifle in the process, and gave covering fire for the Spartans.

Beth ordered Matthew, Ashleigh and Ross to fall back. "Spartans fall back." She tossed the data core to Matthew. "Move it." The three began to run into the back of the Pelican.

"Beth, get your ass in here." Ross called, tossing the core at Alice. "Stick it somewhere safe."

"Matt you're on me." Ross called, getting a nod. He then turned to Josephine. "Is this a standard load out Pelican?" She nodded. He quickly climbed up looking for a certain box

Beth fired her covenant carbine indiscriminately, killing anything and everything that moved. "Come on you fuckers. Tears welling in her eyes." She took a number of shots, her shields down to their last quarter. She reloaded and jumped into cover. Sliding in a new magazine. Grabbing her final blocks of C-12, she tossed them about forty metres and detonated them behind enemy lines, but the waves of Covenant troops kept filing in. "Get out of here." She ordered over the radio.

"That's not happening without you ma'am." Matthew called, her body suddenly going limp as something closed around her neck, followed by being turned around and having both her arms looped around her neck.

"What are you doing Lieutenant."

"Don't even try and pull rank on me!" He said tossing her into the back of the Pelican. A shot from a beam rifle downed Ross's shields, knocking him to the floor. He turned around and fired back in response. Matthew called over the radio. "Major Tung, all are on board. I repeat all are on board"

"Copy that Lieutenant. Dusting off." She responded, the pelican began to ascend, the dusting kicking off as shots of plasma hit the side of the drop ship.

The hatch sealed shut and Lieutenant Commander was roughly placed against the seat. Matthew removed the helmet and slapped her. "You Fucking Idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He took off his own and stared her dead in the eye. "I have already lost two persons today, I am not, I repeat, NOT, ready to lose another."

"Lieut…"

"Don't you dare Lieutenant me. Is this how you respond to losing a soldier, this is war Beth, wake up and grow a pair. You are not the only one to lose someone today, if you haven't noticed, Foley is dead too, I left him to die. Sure I wanted to go back and avenge him, get his body back for his family, all 'Leave no man behind' and all that, but I decided against it. Do you know why?"

"Fol…"

"Because I didn't let my emotions take control of me. Death is an inevitable outcome of war, and if you can't handle this, then I am seriously debating to get you demoted."

"Mason was the first person to die on me, how do you expect me to act, calm cool and collected like you?"

He laughed. "Beth, you know nothing. These two men were the first to die on me, Foley was the first man to ever die directly because of my actions. But you and I both know Mason and Foley died because they were liabilities, as officers commanding, our first call is to get the mission complete, then comes our lives, and we have the unfortunate task of who lives and who dies, and if you can't handle this, then I am afraid I cannot stand to work under you!" He shouted, leaving the Neural-Inhibitor Collar around her neck. He sat down, across from her.

"Foleys dead?" She said, teary eyed.

"Yes. He died, if I tried to save him, Kelly and myself would have surly died. He also bought us time, which I am eternally grateful for. It is a shame though, he was going to retire soon. I am not looking forward to explaining myself to Juliana and Peter, but it is my duty, and will carry it out." Beth looked at her feet.

Matthew sighed. "Beth." She looked up. "Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Think before you act."


	43. Rewrite Update

If you have been following this story for some time now, first of all, thanks, secondly you will have noticed I have started the rewriting process. Due to the complete revamp I am producing, it has taken such a tangent from the original, I have decided to make it its own story (it has the same name). Hope to see you on the other side.

MDAM-FASEGold


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